Moms
by PyroAndrea
Summary: Violentine, AU, Clementine and Violet want to start a family, with all the ups and downs that entails. Some suggestive material but not smut.
1. Labor

"_You_ did this to me!" Clementine screamed through her gritted teeth, squeezing Violet's hand as hard as possible, "I _hate_ you!"

Violet winced in pain, holding her breath until Clementine's grip loosened. "To be fair," Violet said shaking her hand out and wiping Clementine's head with a wet cloth, "A doctor did this to you."

Clementine sent Violet her most piercing glare, usually reserved for her greatest of enemies, like Minerva for example.

"You are _so_ right Clem," Violet shuddered under her gaze, she leaned down and kissed her sweaty forehead, "This is all my fault. I did this to you. I am so sorry."

Clementine allowed herself to relax into her pillow, closing her eyes, a small smile of victory on her face. Violet climbed onto the small hospital bed next to her wife as she snuggled into Violet's side, enjoying the moment of peace while it lasted.

Soon Clementine was emitting small snores and Violet knew she had finally succumbed to sleep. Violet grinned as she stroked her fingers through the brunette's curly locks, it had been a long night.

_1AM, approximately 12 hours earlier _

_Clementine was rolling from one side to the other, trying desperately to find a comfortable position. _

_"Is everything alright?" Violet asked groggily, rolling over to face Clementine._

_"You try strapping a giant beach ball that weighs 30lbs to your stomach and tell me how you sleep..." Clementine pouted, rolling again to face away from the blonde._

_Violet scooted close and wrapped an arm around Clementine, sliding a hand under her shirt to rub her belly. "He's always so active at night." Violet grinned as she nuzzled her head into Clementine's hair, feeling the baby wiggle around. "I'm sorry you're so uncomfortable. Thank you for doing this for us. You are amazing." Violet started placing soft kisses along Clementine's neck._

_"Vi... I'm over 40 weeks pregnant. I'm huge and uncomfortable and I just want to sleep laying on my stomach again." Clementine whined._

_"Who said anything about sleep?" Violet continued placing kisses up her jawline, stopping to suck lightly._

_"How can you find me attractive right now?" Clementine asked, arching her neck to allow Violet clearer access. _

_"Because you are Clementine." Violet said as her hand traveled southward. "Um... Clem... not to make you feel bad or anything but... uh, did the baby kick you in the bladder like really hard... because..."_

_Clementine sat up with great effort, looking over at the blonde, "Violet, I think my water broke."_

_"Your water broke?" Violet froze._

_"My water broke." Clementine nodded in confirmation._

_Violet stood up and paced around the bedroom. "Okay... right... we have to get to the hospital... the bags... where did we put the hospital bags?" Clementine held one hand on her stomach, using the other hand to help push herself off of the bed, Violet rushed to her side, putting an arm around her waist and helping her walk. "How do you feel? Are you feeling alright?"_

_"I'm okay for now," Clementine waved Violet away, "The hospital bags are in the coat closet, I'm going to change out of these wet clothes, will you change the bed sheets before we leave?"_

_"Change the sheets? Clem, you're going into labor, I can change the sheets later! We're going to the hospital now." Violet insisted as she hopped around trying to remove her pajama pants and put her jeans on at the same time._

_"Please?" Clementine frowned as she put on a fresh pair of sweat pants and t-shirt, leaning on the counter for support, "I won't stop thinking about it if we don't get it done. Then it'll just be another thing we'll have to do when we bring the baby home and I just want to be able to focus on our little family..."_

_"Okay okay!" Violet ripped the sheets off the bed, sending pillows flying. She crammed them into the washing machine, starting it up before running to the linen closet and pulling out fresh sheets. She put them on in record time, joining Clementine at her side again, wrapping her arm around her. "Let's get you to the car and then I'll come back and grab the bag."_

_Clementine slowed as a mild contraction started, clutching her belly. "You got this Clem, you got this." Violet whispered kissing her cheek as she helped her sit down in the passenger seat, fastening the seat belt for her._

Violet smiled as she continued to stroke Clementine's hair, contractions were getting closer and closer, she didn't imagine Clementine had more than another couple minutes to sleep before another wave of pain hit. Violet couldn't believe that they would soon be a family of three. It was starting to feel like the baby would never be born and that Clementine would just be pregnant forever.

Clementine's eyes shot open as Violet noticed the monitor by the bedside spike, another contraction, and it seemed like a bad one. Clementine groaned in pain, Violet hated seeing her like this, she grabbed the cloth and wiped at her face only to be batted away.

"Just. stop." Clementine said in frustration, trying to ride the wave of pain. Violet grabbed her hand and started to massage it, waiting to be shooed away again but she wasn't. When the contraction ended Clementine slumped back into the bed exhausted. "I can't do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. Why can't I have drugs again?"

Violet frowned as she continued to rub her hand, "The doctor said your platelet count was too low. It's too dangerous to give you an epidural, but you're Clementine, you can do anything."

"I need to get up and walk." Clementine said resolutely, grabbing onto Violet to help her stand. "Where is Lee and Carley, and your mom? Are they almost here?"

Violet helped her to stand. "Yes, they should be here any minute. Do you want them in the room? I'll make them stay out if you want."

"Carley and your mom can stay. I want to say hi to Lee, but I don't want him in here when body parts start getting exposed." Violet chuckled and nodded, arm around Clementine, helping her walk around the room.

Clementine grabbed onto Violet's shoulders as another contraction started. "Wow, that was fast." Violet said, looking at her watch. She pressed her forehead into Clementine's, rubbing her hands up and down her sides.

"_Why?_ Why didn't we just adopt?" Clementine growled. Violet tried to hold back a smile but stayed silent as she continued to rub Clementine.

_Approximately one year ago_

_Violet pushed AJ on the swing, he was capable of pushing himself but had said it was more fun when Violet did it. Clementine stood at the edge of the playground watching the two with a smile on her face. _

_As Clementine watched, Violet started swinging next to AJ, seeing who could go the highest. Violet shrieked when she went so high that the chains went lax, causing her to drop momentarily before jerking back into swing position. Clementine couldn't help but giggle at them as they jumped out of the swing, seeing who could go farthest. AJ won, but she could tell that Violet had held back._

_AJ ran up to Clementine, wrapping her in a big hug. "Can we go get ice cream now?" he asked._

_"What kind of sister would I be if I said no?" Clementine smiled, taking his hand. Violet jogged to the other side of Clementine grabbing her other hand and connecting their fingers._

_After ice cream the girls dropped AJ back home at Lee and Carley's house. As Clementine drove towards their own home, she spoke up, unable to hold her thoughts back any longer._

_"You're so good with AJ, I know you'd make a great mom." Clementine reached for Violet's hand and squeezed it, "I know we've discussed this before, and we wanted to wait a while... and we did... I think I'm done waiting now... I want us to have a baby." Clementine's voice shook as she spoke, scared of what Violet might say._

_"You know what... y-yeah, um, yes, let's do that. I'm ready too." _

_Clementine nearly crashed the car she was so excited. She lunged over with one arm, trying to hug Violet. Violet merely reached for the steering wheel, hurriedly setting the car straight._

_"Can we not have serious, life altering conversations in the car anymore please?" Violet said nervously._

_"Don't be so dramatic!" Clementine laughed as she placed both hands back on the steering wheel, but decided to wait patiently until they got home to finish the conversation._

_As soon as they walked into their one story three bedroom home Clementine threw her arms around Violet. "How are we going to do this? How many kids do you want to have? I know what I want to do but I want to hear what you want first."_

_"How about giving a girl a chance to take her shoes off before attacking her?" Violet said with a smile. Clementine dragged her to the couch, pushing her down and pulling her shoes off for her._

_"Sooo?" Clementine sat beside her, looking at her eagerly._

_"I haven't really thought about it... It'd be nice to have two kids, so they can play with each other. I always wanted a sibling when I was little." Violet started thinking out loud, wrapping her arm around Clementine's shoulder, pulling her into her side. _

_"Yeah, me too." Clementine agreed, "Lee adopting AJ was one of the best days of my life. Unfortunately I was almost done with high school when he did, so I wasn't able to really appreciate having a little brother for long."_

_"You're still a great sister, even if you don't live with AJ anymore." Violet placed a kiss on the top of Clementine's head. "We could adopt I guess?"_

_Clementine frowned, "I've always loved the idea of having a little Violet running around... A little girl with blonde hair bouncing as she runs around the house..." Clementine's face got dreamy as she imagined it._

_"I don't know how I feel about being pregnant..." Violet sighed. "Besides, don't you think the world would be better off with more Clementines? Who needs more socially awkward, ill-tempered, dorks in the world?"_

_"I do!" Clementine wrapped her arms around Violet's waist, "And I'll carry the baby, I've always kind of wanted to see what it was like to be pregnant."_

_"Let me get this straight-" Violet started only to be interrupted._

_"Waaay too late for that Vi." Clementine laughed. Violet glared and continued on with her sentence._

_"you want to take my egg, have it fertilized and then put it in you?" Violet asked, Clementine nodded, "That sounds expensive..."_

_"We can afford it, we both have good jobs, we've been saving for a while and if we need to take out loans then so be it. I want to carry your child Violet Everett." Clementine cried dramatically._

_"Let's do it. Let's have a baby." Violet said seriously. Clementine tackled her onto the couch, planting kisses all over her face._

"Alright, these contractions are getting really close together, we need to get a doctor in here." Violet said as she helped Clementine settle back into her bed after a particularly long contraction. Violet hit the red call button on the side of the bed.

The door opened immediately_, _but it wasn't the nurse or doctor that Violet hoped it was. "Mom! Lee, Carley!" Violet yelled as they entered, rushing over to give them a quick hug. "Clem's getting close, the baby could be born any minute. Mom could you grab a nurse from the hallway?" She nodded before hurrying out of the room.

Lee and Carley moved to the side of Clementine's bed, squeezing her hand and kissing her head. "How's my sweet pea doin'?" Lee asked, taking her hand in both of his.

"She has been a rock star." Violet said as she sat on the side of Clementine's bed, rubbing her shoulder.

Clementine rolled her eyes at Violet before smiling warmly up at Lee and Carley. "I'm ready for this to be over, but I'm okay. Just want to meet my baby boy... speaking of boys, is AJ here?"

"AJ's waiting in the lobby with all your friends." Carley said as she patted Clementine's knee.

Clementine leaned back, panting in pain as another contraction came just as Violet's mom entered with a nurse trailing behind.

"How close are the contractions?" she asked, looking at Violet.

"About a minute a part." Violet answered, looking at her watch for confirmation.

The nurse pulled on a plastic glove. "I'll need to see how dilated you are."

"That's my cue to leave." Lee said, kissing Clementine's head as she clenched her teeth in pain. "Love you Clem." Lee hurried out of the room.

"I feel like I need to push." Clementine told the nurse.

"10 centimeters dilated. I'll call for the doctor." The nurse pulled off her gloves and picked up the phone on the wall. "Do not push until we can get a doctor in here."

"Hold on just another minute babe, soon. We'll be meeting our baby boy soon." Violet crouched next the bed. She grabbed Clementine's hand, massaging it.

"Sing to me? Please?" Clementine implored, looking into Violet's eyes_._

Carley and Violet's mom stood on the other side of the bed, watching quietly, but Violet and Clementine were only focused on one another. "Never mind the darkness," Violet started singing as the doctor walked in pulling on his gloves. "Never mind the storm,"

"On the next contraction I want you to push." the doctor said, pulling up a stool and taking his place at the end of the bed, nurses flanking him and helping Clementine put her feet in the stirrups. "Never mind the blood red moon, the night will be over soon, the night will be over soon."

Clementine cried out in pain, pushing as the doctor instructed, but focusing on Violet's voice. "Brush away the sorrow, brush away the tears," Clementine kept her eyes focused on Violet, her ears trained on the words, "Brush away your heavy heart." The contraction ended and Clementine rested as Carley wiped her face with a cool rag.

"I can't do this anymore... I've got nothing left..." Clementine cried into Violet's shoulder, Violet hugged her and kept singing, "the night will be over soon, the night will be over soon."

Another contraction, Clementine pushed again, screaming with pain and effort, "For every night goes quiet," Violet smiled, "and every moon goes blue," This time Clementine had only seconds to rest before another contraction started, she pushed with all her might. "beyond the dark, comes something new" The sound of a baby screaming rang through the room. "The sun will be rising soon."

Violet grinned as she looked at the blonde haired baby crying as nurses bustled to wash him and weigh him. She looked back at Clementine, "You did it Clem, you did so good." She placed a kiss on her lips, noticing how pale she looked suddenly.

Clementine struggled to look in the direction of the crying, trying to catch a glimpse, "Is he okay? Is my baby okay?"

"He's absolutely perfect." Violet smiled, looking over as they wrapped the blonde boy up in a blanket. She looked back at Clementine just in time to see her eyes roll back in her head. "Clem? Clementine?!" Violet grabbed her face, "Is this normal, is she okay?" Violet looked frantically at the doctor, still at the foot of the bed, his arms were soaked in blood, Clementine's blood. "What's going on?" the bedside monitors started screaming and nurses filed into the room.

"You need to leave," one nurse said, ushering Carley and Violet's mom out. "You too," the nurse turned towards Violet.

"This is my wife, I'm not leaving her!" Violet yelled, shaking off the hands that attempted to pull her away from Clementine, "Tell me what's going on!" Carley came and wrapped her arm around Violet, she didn't fight her as she stared at Clementine's limp body.

Violet couldn't stop the tears coming down her face. "We need to get out of their way so that they can help her. I know you want to stay." Carley was fighting back tears of her own, "I want to stay too but if we want them to help her we need to go." Violet allowed herself to be guided out of the room.

As they stepped out they were greeted by all their friends, holding balloons and baby gifts, Louis had his arms full of stuffed animals, gift bags, and flowers, when he saw Violet he yelled "Congratulations Mommy!" before noticing the tears running down her face. He hurriedly dropped all his things into a chair and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. He looked at Carley questioningly.

"Is... is something wrong with the baby Sug?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

"Baby's fine," Violet choked out between sobs, unable to say anything more.

Lee put his arm around his now crying wife, AJ at his side, "What's going on hun?"

"Clem was losing a lot of blood, they made us leave." Carley explained as nurses rushed into the room behind them.

Brody, Marlon, Aasim and Sophie stood and wrapped Violet in a giant group hug. A nurse opened the door and Violet pushed her way out of the group. "What's going on, is she okay?"

"No updates yet," the nurse frowned, wheeling the bassinet cart out of the room, "If you want to follow me to the nursery you can hold your sweet baby boy now, he weighs 9lbs even, a big boy! He is healthy and doing great."

Violet shook her head, "I can't. I can't leave Clem. Besides she should get to hold him first, she carried him for 9 months, she deserves it." Violet's chest tightened at the sound of urgent talking and hurried footsteps from inside the room.

Carley took Violet's face in her hands, wiping at her tears with her thumbs. "Violet, Clem would want you to go with the baby. She would want you to hold him. Lee and I will stay here, one of us will come get you immediately the second we hear anything, promise."

Violet nodded numbly and followed the bassinet as it was wheeled down the hallway. Her mom stood frozen in place, not sure what to do. Though she had mended her relationship with Violet over the last few years after her divorce, she still wasn't the best at knowing how to comfort her daughter. Louis stepped in, put an arm around her and followed her down the hall. Lee and Carley remained in an embrace outside of the door while everyone else sank back into their seats.

**A/N: I'm imagining Clementine is 25ish, Violet's 27 and AJ is only like 10. I know that doesn't add up, but ya know, fanfiction.** **Part 2 is in the works.**


	2. Alone

Violet sat in an uncomfortable hospital chair, not caring about the sharp pain that was starting in her lower back and looked at the baby boy in her arms, catching a glimpse of his ocean green eyes when he blinked furiously after a particularly big yawn. She knew that Clementine would fall in love at first sight and her heart ached.

"He's real cute Vi, look at those cute squishy cheeks. He looks just like you!" Louis joked, Violet just continued to stare into those greenish blue eyes, not even bothering to roll her own.

"I can't do this Louis... I can't raise a baby on my own..." a fresh wave of tears started.

Louis bent down to Violet's level, "Come on Vi, Clementine is going to be fine, she's tough. Remember that time I dared her to walk across the frozen lake and she fell in?"

"I'm still pissed at you for that. She would have died if that guy didn't save her." Violet glared.

Louis smiled sheepishly, "How about the time she crashed her car, it flipped like three times! She came out of it with nothing more than a knock on the head."

"She had a pretty serious concussion. I have never been more scared than when I got that phone call." Violet frowned, "Not until today at least."

_About 5 years ago_

_Violet's cell phone rang, she glanced at the screen, an unknown number. She didn't usually answer unknown calls but for some reason she found herself sliding her finger to answer the call._

_"Hello?" Violet said._

_"Is this Violet Everett, Clementine Everett's wife?" said the voice on the other end of the line._

_"Yes." Violet answered in a 'what's it to you' kind of way._

_"I'm sorry to inform you that Mrs. Everett was in a car wreck this morning. She was taken to Mercy hospital." the voice said._

_"What? How is she? Is she hurt? What happened?" Violet's mind was racing and she felt physically ill. _

_"She's alive ma'am but we really can't give you any more details over the phone. I'm sorry." The voice said as they hung up the phone._

_Violet sat with the phone held to her ear for long after they hung up, her mind in a haze. When she snapped to her senses she texted Louis._

_Vi: I need a ride, now_

_Lou: coming_

_She didn't feel like it was safe for her to drive right then. Louis came over quickly, he didn't ask questions, he didn't pry, he simply drove. Violet had never seen Louis so serious before, it was almost unsettling, but he knew that's what she needed at that moment. He was better at reading her than she had previously given him credit for._

"Thanks for always being there for me Louis. It really means a lot to me." Violet attempted a smile.

"You don't have to thank me," Louis leaned in and placed a quick kiss on her cheek, "that's what family's for. Besides, you're always there for me too." Louis looked down at the blonde headed baby, "What's up little dude, I'm your uncle Louis. You have the two best mommies ever."

Violet wiped at her eyes, surprised that she had any tears left to cry. Louis frowned at his friend, his heart breaking for her but knowing that she needed him to be strong.

"Vi, Clementine is invincible, she's going to be fine. And... if the unspeakable does happen... you won't be alone. You have me and your mom, Lee and Carley. Everyone, we all love you and this baby more than you will ever know. If you think I'm not buying this kid everything he ever asks for you're crazy! Little dude's going to be well taken care of."

Violet managed an eye roll and a watery laugh as she leaned her head into Louis's side.

They sat in silence for a minute before Louis spoke up again, "As much as I love calling him little dude, does he have a name that everyone else can call him?"

Violet frowned, "Clem and I never agreed on a name, we decided that we would pick something when we met him, see what he looked like. She was wanting to name him Kenneth," Violet shook her head and wiped a tear from her eye. "She said it was the name of an old family friend. Now that I look at him though, he could totally be Barbie's boyfriend, Ken. Look at those blonde locks, he's going to be a heart breaker." Violet gently played with the baby's wispy hair.

"He sure is." Louis grinned allowing the baby to hold his finger in his fist. "And he's as strong as his mommy Clem."

Carley popped her head into the nursery. "Violet, she's stable and awake."

Violet stood up so quickly that she caused the baby to cry with the sudden movement. "Um, I, Louis, can you take him?" Louis held his arms out, cradling the baby like a pro.

"Go Vi, go!" Louis said, rocking the baby back and forth, quieting him down.

Violet ran down the hall, dodging around the happy families and nurses busy at work, all of them oblivious to the fact that Violet's whole world had been shattered just hours ago. When she reached the room she burst in to find Lee sitting on the edge of the bed, holding Clementine's hand, he was whispering softly. A couple nurses were still in the room, monitoring machines and checking Clementine's vitals. Lee saw Violet and moved immediately out of her way.

"Clementine! I was so worried." Violet fell onto the bed beside her, crying. She gazed at Clementine's face through her tears, she was still so pale. "Don't you ever scare me like that again."

Clementine smiled weakly, "Where is he? I want to see him."

"He's in the nursery with Lou, maybe the nurses can bring him in." Violet looked up at the nurses and then back down at Clementine, she didn't want to leave her side, even for a second. Lee, who was good at reading situations, saw the torment in her eyes and offered to talk to the nurses about having the baby moved back into the room. Violet smiled at him in relief and carefully climbed into the bed next to Clementine, wrapping her arms around her, watching out for all the cords and iv line. Violet leaned in and kissed Clementine on the cheek, tears freely falling from her eyes as she held onto the wife that she thought she may never get to hold again.

Clementine put an arm on top of Violet as best as she could with the blood pressure cuff digging into her bicep. "Shhhh... it's okay Vi... I'm okay."

"I thought... I thought I had lost you Clem... I've never been so scared." Clementine turned her head to kiss Violet's forehead.

"You're not getting rid of me that easy, sorry." Clementine said with a yawn as she nuzzled Violet's soft hair.

"You sound just like our boy, he gave me the biggest yawn today and his eyes Clem. You're going to love his eyes." Violet smiled, the thought made her happy now that she knew Clementine would get to see them.

"Does he have your eyes? I love your eyes." Clementine sighed, allowing her own eyes to close, she was exhausted.

"He does, it's a little weird staring into my own eyes, but it's amazing." Violet was in awe of the life they had created together. She couldn't wait to see Clementine meeting him.

Lee walked back into the room, Clementine's eyes snapped back open at the sound of his voice, "They're going to move you to a new room Clem, they'll bring the baby in at the same time."

"Thank you Lee." Clementine said, eyes drooping closed again.

"They say it will be soon, but nothing ever happens quickly in a hospital," Lee gave a soft warm chuckle that Clementine couldn't help but smile at, "You should get some rest in the meantime, you both look exhausted. I'll tell everyone that you're doing well and to come back and visit later, when you're settled in your room and had some time to rest. I'm going to take AJ and Carley home. Violet, call us if there are any... changes... and text us the new room number when you're moved."

"Of course, and thank you." Violet smiled at the man she had considered a father more than she had ever considered her own. He quickly kissed each of them on the head before leaving and shutting the door behind him, she could hear his deep soothing voice through the door as he talked to their friends.

Violet reached down pulling up the blanket to fully cover Clementine and herself. Snuggled against each other as best they could in the tiny bed with wires stuck all over Clementine's body, allowing themselves to close their eyes, feeling safe in the others embrace. The sound of Clementine's soft snores, which had started during pregnancy, had never sounded so beautiful to Violet as they did at that moment, she closed her eyes and allowed them to lull her to sleep.

Violet woke up as a nurse arrived to transfer them to another room. She rubbed at her bleary eyes and got out of the bed as carefully as she could, trying not to wake Clementine up. To no avail though, as soon as Violet left her side Clementine's eyes fluttered open, feeling the warmth leave her side.

"We're switching rooms, you'll get to meet our boy soon." Violet smiled, grabbing their bags from the couch on the side of the room as several nurses unhooked wires and resituated IV bags for the trip.

"What time is it?" Clementine asked groggily, Violet noticed that she was regaining some color and let herself relax a little bit.

Violet looked at her watch, "Almost nine o'clock."

"I am starving. I haven't eaten anything since yesterday." Clementine groaned as the nurses began wheeling her from the room.

"How late is the cafeteria open?" Violet asked the nurse that was pushing Clementine's bed down the hallway.

"It closes at nine. I'm so sorry." The nurse frowned, "We do have a fridge on the maternity hall with some sandwiches, fruit and drinks for our mom's. Sometimes we have late night births so we like to have something for our mom's afterwards. We'll get you something to eat once we get you settled."

"Thank you." Clementine smiled, leaning back on her pillow as the nurse opened the door to her new room.

The nurse rolled the bed in, rehooked up all the wires to the monitors, hung up the IV bag, plugged the blood pressure cuff back in, checked Clementine's temperature and other stats before leaving to get some food.

Not long after the nurse left, another one walked in pushing a bassinet with a screaming baby boy. Clementine sat up immediately, Violet hadn't seen her sit up that fast in months.

Clementine reached her arms towards the crying baby, tears starting to leak from her eyes. "Violet, give me my baby." Violet grinned from ear to ear, finally getting the family moment she had dreamed of since they had found out that Clementine was pregnant.

_About 8 months earlier_

_Clementine paced back and forth, holding a pregnancy test in her hand. She didn't know the results, she promised Violet she would wait to look at it until she got home from work. She should be home any minute but any minute wasn't soon enough. _

_Clementine held the stick up to her eyes before quickly pulling her hand back down, no, she couldn't betray Violet's trust. She had to wait. She promised. She stuck the test back into the box on the counter and continued her pacing. _

_Violet finally arrived and it took her more than one try to successfully stick the key into the lock her hand was shaking so bad. When she opened the door she was met with a pacing Clementine. "So?" Violet asked, nervous._

_"I haven't looked yet. I was waiting for you." Clementine ran and threw her arms around Violet. "What if it's negative?"_

_"Then we try again." Violet shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant when she was screaming inside. "Let's look." Clementine pulled the stick out of the box, turning it over until they could see the window. "Is that a positive?"_

_Clementine's face broke into a huge grin, "It's positive!" she screamed as she grabbed Violet by the arms, jumping up and down, Violet joined in as they 'whooped' with joy. _

_When they stopped jumping Violet crouched down, pulled Clementine's shirt up and kissed her on the stomach. "I don't know if you can here me in there yet, but I'm your mommy and I love you." Violet then pulled out her phone as she stood, "First picture of our new family! Hold up the stick!" Violet cried, holding up her phone to take a selfie of her and Clementine._

_"You know I peed on this right? Do you really want a picture of something I peed on?" Clementine raised an eyebrow, holding onto the stick doubtfully._

_"It's got a cap on it and yes, yes I do." Violet grumped, still holding her phone up. Clementine chuckled, kissing Violet on the cheek as she held up the stick so that you could see the little plus sign._

Violet reached into the bassinet, cradling the baby against her chest as she carried him to Clementine. "This is your other mama buddy, she worked so hard to get you here." Violet carefully handed him over and Clementine took him eagerly, tears dripping onto his crying face as Clementine smothered him in kisses.

"He's perfect." Clementine cried, staring into his red blotchy, crying face. Violet sat on the bed next to the two, adjusting the back of the bed so that they could comfortably sit up and pulled out her phone. "First out of the womb family photo!" She took a selfie of the three of them.

Clementine looked at the picture, "It's beautiful, I don't even care that I look like a royal mess. I'm just so happy to have my boy in my arms and you beside me. For just this moment, life is perfect." Violet leaned over, kissing Clementine on the lips.

The nurse who had brought the baby in, was busying herself with paperwork on the side of the room while they had their moment. After Violet pulled back, both of them crying happy tears, the nurse approached them. "I think he's hungry, we knew we were bringing him to you so we didn't want to feed him until we talked to you, are you planning on breastfeeding?"

"Yes, I want to try, I read some books on it..." Clementine said, not taking her eyes off her baby, examining every feature, from his wispy blonde hair to his long slender fingers. He had his eyes shut tight, not allowing her a glance at them.

"I can call the lactation specialist to come talk to you but she may have already left for the day. I can help you though if you want, I breastfed all my babies." the nurse offered.

Clementine nodded anxiously and allowed her to help. Violet stood out of the way as they worked on it. The nurse brought in the promised food just as Clementine got the baby to successfully latch on. Violet took the tray and set it on the bedside table, adjusting it's height so that clementine could easily grab some food from it.

Soon they were alone again, just the three of them, baby boy fed and sleeping on Clementine's chest, she refused to put him down. Violet pushed the food towards her. "Eat babe, you said you were starving almost an hour ago."

Violet smiled as Clementine grabbed the apple, face beaming, looking like a kid in a candy shop. She took a bite, "Have you eaten at all?" She turned towards Violet with a concerned look on her face.

"No, I was too worried to eat earlier, I felt sick to my stomach. I'm fine though, you've been through so much today, you need it." Violet moved to sit next to Clementine on the bed. Clementine grabbed half a sandwich and stuck it in Violet's mouth. Violet grabbed it as Clementine let go just so that it wouldn't fall to pieces on the bed.

"Clem, you need it more than I do." Violet tried to hand the sandwich back.

Clementine held her hand up rejecting it, "This is a team effort, you supported me and took amazing care of me for 40 weeks, you earned yourself half a sandwich." Clementine laughed at her own statement as she took another bite of apple. "Sorry, you deserve a lot more than a half a sandwich, but it's all I have to give right now."

Violet took a bite of the sandwich and pulled out her phone, "I'm going to tell Louis to bring me some chicken nuggets, want anything?"

"Cheeseburger!" Clementine said gleefully, startling the baby, causing him to stir in his sleep. Both Violet and Clementine froze until the baby settled back into a peaceful sleep. They let out a joint sigh of relief. "Also french fries and a vanilla shake." Clementine whispered, careful not disturb their son.

Louis texted back quickly, saying he'd pick up the food and be over as soon as possible. Violet laid back into the bed, stroking the baby boy's cheek. "We need a name."

Clementine nodded, "I was thinking... what do you think about Luke?" Clementine looked at Violet, gauging her reaction.

"Luke, like from Star Wars?" Violet asked with a grin, she didn't hate it.

"No, well, yes, but Luke is the name of the man that saved me from the frozen lake when I fell in. Do you remember that?" Clementine explained.

Violet nodded, "Louis and I were just talking about that today. I'm still pissed at him for daring you to do that." Clementine patted Violet on the knee. "I didn't know that guy's name was Luke. I wonder what he's doing now. I hope he's happy wherever he is in his life, I owe him everything." Violet kissed Clementine on the cheek, "Yeah, Luke is good, I like it. I especially like it better than Kenneth."

Clementine frowned jokingly and playfully nudged Violet. "Luke it is. What do you think about that Mr. Luke, is that okay with you?" Clementine asked in a high pitched voice directed at their son. Violet rolled her eyes and grinned as the door opened.

"The food has arrived!" Louis yelled holding up the bag and milkshake. Luke began to cry at the sudden outburst. Violet rolled her eyes as she got up and snatched the food from Louis, setting it on the bedside table.

"Wash your hands." She demanded. Louis did as he was told. Violet reached down and took Luke from Clementine, leaving her pouting, and handed the boy over to Louis. "Here, hold your godson so we can eat in peace."

Louis took him willingly, "I'm the godfather? Really?" Violet nodded as she popped a chicken nugget in her mouth.

"Of course Louis, if you're willing." Clementine smiled.

"Absolutely, I love this little dude already." Louis sat in the chair beside the bed, smiling at the boy in his arms. "I'm glad you're feeling better Clem. You sure had us all scared."

"Thanks Lou and thanks for the food." Clementine said as she pulled out her cheeseburger and looked at it like it was the sexiest thing on earth.

"Babe, you're drooling." Violet smirked, "Why don't you ever look at me that way?"

"Because I'm starving for food, you've never given me a chance to be starved for sex." Clementine shrugged as she took a big bite.

"That, I did not need to know." Louis shook his head and covered the baby's ear with one of his hand. "And neither did your son."


	3. Small Moments

**Not smut but definitely suggestive warning.**

Clementine was held in the hospital for a week, longer than the average delivery due to her blood loss. She didn't mind though since she had Violet and Luke by her side, but she was getting a little stir crazy. So when the nurse came in with her discharge papers she cheered.

Clementine gave her baby boy a snuggle and kiss before she handed him over to Violet so that a nurse could unhook all of the wires, cuffs and tubes. She sighed with relief once the IV was removed, finally able to move freely for the first time in days. She stood up gingerly from the bed, still feeling tender. As soon as they were alone Clementine ripped off her clothing, "Good riddance hospital gown!"

"Clem!" Violet fumbled one armed with the gown, holding Luke in the other, trying to hold it up to cover her wife. "Someone could walk in any second!"

"I'm pretty sure every nurse here has seen every part of me by now anyway." Clementine shrugged as she went into the bathroom and put on some loose pajamas. "As soon as we get home I am taking the longest, hottest shower ever!" She said as she walked slowly out of the bathroom, collecting personal items and packing them up.

"That sounds amazing, maybe I can join you?" Violet winked as she sat Luke in his baby carrier, struggling with the straps that seemed way to big for his tiny body.

"You can join me, but the doctor said no funny business until I'm healed up." Clementine said.

"You know you can say 'sex' right? We've been married for almost six years now." Violet smirked.

"Intercourse." Clementine looked sternly at Violet, taking a step towards her.

"Sex." Violet stared back, stepping forward as well.

"Making love." Clementine held her gaze, taking another step.

Violet rolled her eyes, moving forward and wrapping her arms around Clementine's waist, gently pulling her close, "Sex."

Clementine leaned forward until their lips were all but touching, "Copulation." she said in the huskiest voice she could muster, trying to keep her facial expression serious.

"Oh my gosh, shut up!" Violet laughed as she closed the gap, connecting their lips.

They didn't pull apart until a nurse opened the door, pushing a wheel chair. Violet carried Luke's carrier with one arm and gift bags layered on her other one as they walked to the pick up zone in front of the hospital. Clementine transferred from her wheel chair to a bench to wait with Luke while Violet went to pull the car around.

"Don't take too long!" Clementine called after her, suddenly feeling very lonely as the nurse left her alone with Luke on the bench. She stared at the face of her son, he had refused to open his eyes when she was looking, keeping those gorgeous eyes hidden from the person who wanted to see them the most. By the time Violet pulled the car around she had started crying. Violet saw her as she got out of the car, and sat next to her worried.

"What's wrong Clem?" Violet asked, putting her arm around her, giving her a side hug.

"My baby doesn't like me. He won't even look at me." Clementine cried freely, "Now we have to take him home with no one to help us. I've never been a mom before, what if I don't do it right?"

"You're going to be a great mom, we'll figure it out, it's going to be okay." Violet rubbed Clementine's arm soothingly, "We make a great team, we're going to rock this thing together. Now let's go home and take a shower."

Clementine nodded solemnly as Violet helped her stand. Clementine insisted on sitting in the back seat so that she could keep an eye on Luke. Violet drove slowly and carefully with her precious cargo.

"Violet!" Clementine screamed when they were nearly home.

"What? What is it? Are you okay, are you in pain?" Violet's heart was pounding.

"His eyes! He's opening his eyes and they are so beautiful." Tears started flowing again and Violet shook her head, she knew Clementine was experiencing an overflow of hormones after giving birth but she wasn't going to tell Clementine that. "They look just like yours and I love them so much."

"That's awesome Clem." Violet responded with a smile.

About 6 weeks after Luke's birth

Clementine unlocked the front door, walking into her home. Violet was laying on the floor next to Luke, playing video games as Clementine came in.

"Clem!" Violet jumped up, not even bothering to pause her game. She hurriedly moved to stand in front of her wife, holding onto her upper arms gently. "What did the doctor say?"

"He said my vitals are looking good and my lady parts have healed nicely, I'm cleared for coitus!" Clementine winked.

"Hallelujah!" Violet cheered, picking Clementine up and spinning her around before setting her back down.

"Is it just me or is it hot in here?" Clementine said, fanning her face with her hand and pulling at the collar of her shirt dramatically. She reached down and pulled her shirt off, revealing her tight fitting nursing tank top underneath. "Whew that's bett-" Clementine started, unable to finish as Violet moved in quickly, kissing Clementine's cleavage hungrily.

"I've been dying to get a hold of these for weeks. Move over Luke, it's mommy's turn." Clementine's breath hitched in her throat at the feel of Violet's soft lips and she wrapped her arms around Violet as her hands traveled under Clementine's shirt and up her torso. "I thought your breasts were amazing when you were pregnant, but nursing boobs are even better. I think you've gone up a whole cup size."

Clementine frowned, "I thought you said I was perfect the way I was."

"You were, you are." Violet back peddled, feeling flustered, "Come on, can't I just enjoy the moment, don't make me feel guilty for wanting to take pleasure in my wife's body!"

"I'm just messing with you," Clementine grabbed her own chest with both hands, "these are freaking amazing. Enjoy them while they last, because I am not breastfeeding a day after Luke turns one."

"No time to waste then." Violet gently guided Clementine to the couch, pushing her onto it and climbing on top of her.

Luke took that as his cue to start crying, not just crying, but screaming.

"Noooo," Violet groaned, "Please _no_!"

Clementine smiled at Violet's frustration, "we've waited weeks, we can wait a few more minutes." She kissed Violet sweetly on the lips before looking awkwardly down at her shirt, her breasts had started releasing milk at the sound of Luke's crying, causing wet spots to appear on her tank top. "Let me feed him real quick and we can put him in his swing, he'll be calm for a while."

"Fiiiiine." Violet rolled off of Clementine and onto the floor, crawling next to Luke, "You're lucky I love you." She scrunched her face up and rubbed her nose against Luke's before picking him up. "I'm going to change his diaper first, that way we know he's good after you feed him." Clementine sat up on the couch, getting ready to feed her son, checking out Violet as she left the room.

About 3 months later

A knock came at the door. Violet opened it to reveal Louis and Sophie. She gave Louis a stern look, as she continued to button up her dress-up vest, "Don't make me regret asking you to babysit."

He raised his hand defensively, "Nice to see you to Violet, so happy to be here Violet." Sophie came in from behind Louis, hugging Violet tight before looking around the room for Luke.

"I won't let him let you down Vi." Sophie said as she spotted the boy in his bouncy seat and went to pick him up.

"I'm sorry," Violet frowned, throwing her arms around Louis in a hug, she pulled his head down so that she could whisper menacingly in his ear, "If this doesn't go well Clementine is never going to leave the house without Luke again, don't screw this up."

"Aye, aye captain!" Louis yelled, wide eyed, holding his hand to his head in a salute.

Violet rolled her eyes so hard it made Louis grin as Clementine came into the room looking flustered. "I just fed Luke, he'll need to eat again in two hours. I left instructions on the counter next to his bottle. The milk is in the freezer, to thaw it run it under warm water, don't let it get too hot. His diapers are in his room. Make sure you change him before bed. He likes to sleep with his pacifier and I always rock him and sing to him before I put him down."

As Clementine went on and on, Louis wandered to the freezer and pulled out a frozen bag of milk. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and holding it by the corner with two fingers, far away from his body.

"Grow up Louis, yes, it's breast milk," Violet shook her head at him.

"Have you ever," Louis looked around nervously, like he was talking about something secretive, "Have you ever tasted it?"

"Of course I have." Violet laughed.

"Really?" Louis looked surprised.

"Well, it wasn't on purpose the first time." Violet shrugged.

"What do you mean, how can you _accidentally_ drink from a baby bottle?" Louis continued, curious. Clementine glared from the other side of the room. Sophie sat next to Clem, holding Luke, tickling the boy's feet and listening amused to the conversation.

"It wasn't from a bottle you idiot, it was... fresh." Violet smirked.

Louis stared at her blankly confused for a minute, before realization struck and his eyes and mouth opened wide, "oooooooooh"

"Can we not talk about my breast milk?" Clementine shouted, color rushing to her face as Sophie chuckled at her side.

"Yeah," Violet grabbed the bag from Louis's hand and stuck it back in the freezer, closing the door, "Stop talking about my wife's breast milk."

"How's it taste?" Louis whispered, unable to drop the conversation.

"Surprisingly sweet." Violet answered, as she went to sit next to Clementine who was now covering her face fully embarrassed. "Ready to go?"

"I've never been more ready to leave a room in my life." Clementine stood up to leave, mortified.

At the restaurant Clementine was fidgeting at the table, "How is it taking this long to bring out some drinks?"

"Clem, calm down, we're not in a hurry." Violet reached over and grabbed her hands.

"I think we should have left Luke with Lee and Carley, I'm worried about Louis..." Clementine started tapping her foot nervously since Violet had stilled her fidgeting hands.

"Clementine, he's fine, Louis is fine. He would never do anything to hurt Luke and Luke loves him! Besides, Sophie is there, just in case."

Clementine's phone buzzed as Violet finished talking. Clementine looked at her phone anxiously. "That's it, we're going home." Clementine said, standing up from the table.

"What? No!" Violet grabbed her hands again and pulled her back down into her seat. "What did Louis text you?" Violet asked knowingly. Clementine pushed her phone across the table for her to see, it was a picture of Luke, grinning from ear to ear, laying in a roasting pan surrounded by carrots on top of the stove. Violet laughed. "Louis is just messing with you Clem, he's not going to cook Luke." The phone buzzed again. Another picture from Louis. This time Luke was laying next to an open box of matches.

"Please?" Clementine grabbed the sides of her own face, stressed, "Please can we go save our son?"

"Please will you spend some time with me? I need you too." Violet pouted.

Clementine sighed, "Okay, yeah, I'm sorry. I know Louis is just trying to get in my head."

After successfully finishing dinner, they went to a movie that Clementine only somewhat nervously sat through, checking her phone every ten minutes. When it was over Clementine rushed the two of them home, eager to make sure the house wasn't burnt down.

Clementine hurried into the house, looking around anxiously. Louis and Sophie were curled up on the couch watching Netlix. Clementine bee lined to Luke's room, peeking in on him, making sure he was breathing before letting out a sigh of relief and coming back into the living room with everyone else.

"I underestimated you, I'm sorry. You did a good job." Clementine admitted.

Louis and Sophie stood, stretching. "I forgive you, I am the king!" Sophie nudged him in the side. He smiled, "And you are the queen."

"Thank you for watching him, I hope he wasn't any trouble." Violet said, hugging them both goodbye.

"Anytime, he was an angel." Sophie smiled, walking out the door.

Louis followed her, moving to close the door, when it was open just a crack he stuck his head in through the space. "Just fyi, I totally tasted Clem's milk and you're right, it is sweet!"

"You what?" Violet yelled, chasing Louis out of the door. "You're joking right?" Violet shouted after him as he ran laughing down the driveway, Sophie shook her head and followed.

About 3 months later (Luke is 6ish months old)

Luke was sitting in a high chair, as Violet fed him his dinner one messy spoonful at a time. Clementine turned off the oven, removing a casserole and setting it on the stove. "Is he liking the carrots?" Clementine asked, pulling plates from the cabinets for herself and Violet.

"If by liking you mean spitting them all over his shirt, then yes, he _loves_ them." Violet smiled as she wiped his mouth off with a bib. Clementine came up behind Violet and sat her plate down on the table in front of her, kissing her cheek as she leaned down. "You missed." Violet said pointing at her lips, Clementine smiled and leaned back down pecking Violet on the lips leaving he with a smile on her face as Clementine went to grab her own plate.

"Thanks Clem." Violet picked up her fork and took a bite of her own food, Luke cried in frustration, slapping his carroty hands onto his high chair tray. Carrot mush splashed up onto Violet's face. "Mommy's not allowed to eat? It's all about Luke. Luke Luke Luke." Violet said, poking the boy in the belly making him giggle.

Clementine joined her family at the table, wiping the carrot off of Violet's face as she sat down. "Speaking of it all being about Luke... I was thinking we may want to start trying for baby number two soon. We got lucky I was able to get pregnant so fast with Luke, I don't want them to be too far apart in age and my body has resumed it's natural cycle. We could start trying now, so that if it takes a long time, it won't be such a big deal. What do you think?" Clementine asked nervously, Violet was looking at her like she had grown two heads.

"You can't be serious, are you being serious?" Violet asked dumbfounded, "You can't get pregnant again, it's too dangerous. I almost lost you, I'm not risking that again."

"We both agreed that we wanted two kids, and you said you don't want to get pregnant." Clementine spoke a little louder than she intended, Luke started crying and Violet distractedly stuck another spoonful of carrots in his mouth.

"We agreed, before you almost _died_." Violet said, getting a little heated as well.

"My doctor will keep a better eye on me this time, he'll know my situation, he can take steps to avoid putting me in danger again." Clementine slammed her hands on the table as she stood.

"We don't have to have two kids, we were both an only child and we turned out fine. Luke can just have all of our love!" Violet crossed her arms in frustration.

"I don't need your permission to get pregnant, I can go to the appointments on my own." Clementine said, hands on her hips.

"Okay, can we just calm down for a second?" Violet stood up too, setting the bowl of mushy carrots on Luke's high chair and taking Clementine by the hands. "You really want another kid that bad?" Clementine locked eyes with Violet and nodded. "I'll do it then."

"You'll do what?" Clementine questioned, looking confused.

"I'll get pregnant. I'll carry your baby. I'll do it." Violet looked determined, leaving Clementine floundering for words.

"Are you sure? I mean, this is a big commitment... You don't have to. I'm sure I can come to terms with only having one child, eventually..." Clementine said, still shocked at Violet's offer.

"No, I want to do this, for our family, for you, the world needs another Clementine." Violet surprised herself, but now that she said it, she knew that she wanted it. "I'm sure." Clementine squealed as she threw herself at Violet, nearly knocking her over. Luke joined in on the squealing, drawing their attention. He was now wearing his bowl as a hat, carrots dripping down into his face, looking proud of his accomplishment.

"I'll give him a bath," Clementine offered, kissing Violet firmly on the lips before plucking Luke from his high chair, carrying him at arms distance trying to avoid getting any carrots on herself as she headed towards the bathroom. Violet sat down with a smile, picked up her fork and continued eating her dinner, ready for the adventure ahead of her.


	4. Family dinner

Clementine walked into her house after a long day of work, greeted by Luke's delighted screams, "Oh my boy! My sweet boy! Mama will never leave you again!" Clementine squealed as she picked him up, holding him close and smothering his face in kisses.

"Don't lie to the kid." Violet said from the couch with a roll of her eyes. Clementine glared, pushing Violet's feet off the couch so she could sit down. Clementine bounced Luke on her knees, holding onto his hands. Violet pouted, "How was work?"

"As good as it can be, being away from Luke has been so much harder than I thought it would be." Clementine nuzzled her face into the boys belly, making him giggle. "Can I stay home with him forever?"

Violet sat up on the couch so she could look at Clementine better. "We talked about this before Clem. I'm okay with you quitting your job if you want. I just got that promotion, it came with a really good raise, we can make it work."

Clementine frowned, "But we're about to start the in vitro fertilization process soon. We need the extra money. Besides, Brody doesn't charge much to watch Luke, so it's not like we need to offset daycare expenses..."

"If you're not happy then it isn't worth it, we'll be okay. Just think about it... I'll support you no matter what." Violet said, she reached forward pulling Clementine into her chest as she resituated on the couch.

Clementine turned her head to kiss Violet, "I love you."

"I love you too. What time is your family coming over tomorrow?" Violet asked as she reached around and stroked Luke's soft cheek.

"Lee said they'd be here around 5. Do we have any other plans this weekend?" Clementine asked, closing her eyes as she allowed herself to sink into Violet.

"No other plans." Violet reached around Clementine and pulled Luke out of her hands, laying him down on the floor near his toys, "You're going to drop him, you're falling asleep."

"I'm not falling asleep..." Clementine sounded offended as she rotated around, resting her head on Violet's stomach, hugging her around the waist. Violet smiled as she adjusted the pillows behind her and leaned back into them comfortably. She grabbed the remote, looking for a show to binge while stroking Clementine's hair.

"I'm going to start 'the Umbrella Academy'. Is that okay? I've been wanting to watch it for a while." Violet asked.

"Mmhmmm." Clementine responded, snuggling into Violet's stomach. Violet tightened her muscles at the tickling sensation but tried not to let it show. Clementine not so innocently ran her fingers under Violet's shirt and up her sides, rewarded with a laugh escaping Violet's lips.

"Please Clem!" Violet begged, "You know how much I hate being tickled!"

"What? I can't caress my wife's stomach?" Clementine nudged Violet's shirt up with her nose and dug her chin into Violet's abs.

"StooOOoop!" Violet shrieked, laughing against her will as tears leaked out of her eyes. Luke looked worriedly up at the two of them, his bottom lip started quivering. "Clem... stop... Luke...!" she managed between gasps for air but Clementine was relentless.

A cry rang out, Clementine immediately stopped her attack and picked Luke off the ground as he wailed, lip trembling. "It's okay Luke, mommy's okay."

"Speak for yourself!" Violet pouted, taking Luke from Clementine, "Your mama is a bully. A bully." She rubbed her nose against his and he calmed down. "He thought you were hurting me, you big bully."

Clementine frowned, seeing his watery green eyes, "Mama's sorry Lukey," she kissed his squishy cheek. "I'm going to grab Luke his dinner and order us some pizza. I'll get your favorite to make it up to you."

Violet's face lit up, "Barbecue chicken? Yeeees." Clementine rolled her eyes as she grabbed a jar of sweet potatoes, a spoon and a bib, then clicked on the Papa John's app on her phone to order the pizza. Violet stood up and slipped Luke into his high chair and buckled him in.

"Let me feed him," Violet took the stuff from Clementine, and attached the bib around Luke's neck. "I know you like to shower after work, go ahead, hopefully the pizza will be here when you get back."

Clementine kissed Violet's cheek gratefully and headed to the bathroom. As Violet finished feeding Luke, a knock came at the door. She threw down the bib she had just used to wipe up his face and ran to the door to get the pizza.

When Clementine came back into the living room, rubbing her damp hair with a towel, wearing her pj pants and nursing tank top, Violet was changing Luke into his pajamas. She was squeezing his toes as she went, causing Luke to squeal in delight when Violet squeezed his pinkie toe and said, "And _this_ little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home!" as she tickled him from his leg all the way up to his double chin. Clementine's heart swelled at the sight, she didn't think she could love two people any more if she tried.

Clementine rubbed Violet's back as she approached the two. "I need to breast feed him, before I put him down for bed." She picked him up and sat on the couch, reaching up to unhook her tank top as Violet stared. "Aren't you going to eat? While it's still warm?" Clementine asked quizzically.

"In a minute." Violet assured, not taking her eyes away as Clementine unhooked the snap.

"Really?" Clementine laughed, "this is nothing you haven't seen before..."

"And I want to see it again." Violet raised her eyebrows, Clementine rolled her eyes as she continued to undress, earning a cat call from Violet that made Clementine's cheeks heat up. Once she was feeding Luke, Violet got up and pulled a couple of plates out of the cabinet, setting them on the counter.

Luke's eyelids fluttered as he ate, finally succumbing to sleep when he was done. Clementine attempted to situate her clothing one armed when Violet scooped him up and put him on her shoulder, rubbing her hand in circles on his back, waiting for him to burp. Once he did Violet carried him to his room and laid him down in the crib.

Violet walked back into the living room, Clementine was on the couch enveloped in a giant blanket with a plate of pizza on her lap. Violet grinned as she grabbed her own plate, taking a second helping, and snuggling beside the brunette, pulling some of the blanket onto herself. She grabbed the remote and started the show.

After watching a few episodes, Violet reached for the remote to find Clementine sleeping soundly beside her. Violet nudged her wife on the shoulder, "Clem. Cleeeeeeem." she stirred but didn't awaken. All the late night feedings were catching up with her hard. Violet stuck her arms underneath her back and knees and lifted Clementine with some difficulty and carried her to the bedroom, which she was thankful wasn't too far away.

Violet laid her gently on her side of the bed, pulled the covers up over her and kissed her goodnight. Violet changed into a baggy t-shirt, peeked in at Luke to make sure he was still breathing and went to bed as well.

Violet's eyes fluttered open, she had been sleeping for a while but it was still dark out. She looked at her phone, it was 3am, she rolled over intending to wrap her arm around Clementine but stopped when she bumped into another presence in the bed.

Their six month old baby boy was laying between them, arms above his head and face looking about as content as a face could look. Violet groaned. He looked like he was in heaven, moonlight shining on his blonde hair like a halo, she had to tear her eyes away or she would give in, "Clementine..."

"Hm?" She actually responded, eyes still closed, arms above her head, looking very similar to Luke.

"We agreed that Luke shouldn't sleep in the bed anymore, he needs to be in his crib." Violet whispered, trying not to wake the baby.

"Mmhm" Clementine responded, not really understanding what she was saying. Violet stared at her wife for a few more seconds before growling to herself and picking up her son, careful to not wake him she carried him back to his crib and went back to bed feeling a little miffed.

"Clementine. Why was Luke in our bed?" Violet asked, too frustrated to just drop it, she scooted close to her wife, looking into her angelic face, trying not to let her resolve crack.

"Luke was in our bed?" Clementine asked, voice groggy.

"Yes, why did you bring him in the bed?" Violet asked again, starting to smile at Clementine who was still not opening her eyes.

"I'm too tired to feed him in the rocking chair, I'm just going to feed him in bed and then I'll lay him back down." Clementine answered, oblivious to the fact that she was not feeding the baby and that he was in fact no longer even in the bed.

"I put him back for you." Violet said, moving in even closer, eyeing her exposed collar bone.

"I love you." Clementine mumbled.

Violet leaned in, kissing the crook of her neck. "I'm sleeping..." Clementine muttered. Violet sucked lightly, sticking her fingers into the band of her pajama pants, Clementine squirmed at her touch. "I-I'm sleeping..." Clementine repeated.

"Okay, fine." Violet sighed as she moved her hand away slowly, only to have Clementine grab it to keep it in place.

"Maybe... maybe just a quickie." Clementine said shakily, Violet looked up into Clementine's now open eyes and grinned.

Violet was woken up by Luke's cries amplified through the baby monitor. She carefully reached over Clementine to turn off the monitor that was sitting on her nightstand, glad that it hadn't woken her up. Violet stretched and got up from the bed, looking at her phone, it was 6am. Violet dragged her feet into Luke's room and picked him up. She attempted to rock him back to sleep but he only screamed louder when Violet had no milk to offer. Sighing she stood and went into the kitchen to warm up a bottle so that Clementine could sleep in.

Several hours later Clementine awoke, noticing the empty spot beside her. Eager to spend the Saturday with her family she got out of bed and found the two of them lying on the living room floor. Violet was laying on her back, Luke was half on her stomach, half on the floor and a blanket was haphazardly draped over the two of them. They were both asleep, cartoons playing on the tv and Clementine smiled.

She didn't want to bother them so she went into the kitchen to make breakfast. Clementine's goal was to let Violet keep sleeping, as the aroma of bacon filled the house, she realized she had made a mistake. It wasn't long before Violet was wrapping her arms around her from behind, "Mmmmm..." she mumbled into Clementine's neck.

"Me or the bacon?" Clementine laughed.

"Both." Violet smiled, kissing her softly.

"I'm making pancakes too, do you want chocolate chips."

"Yeeeees, with whipped cream!" Violet said excitedly.

"I think we have some left, check the fridge, we go through it pretty quickly." Clementine said, "As soon as we finish breakfast, I need to pump. I didn't feed Luke this morning and I'm... full. Then we need to clean up the house since Lee and Carley are coming over."

"You got it boss." Violet went to check the fridge, smiling when she found the whipped cream hiding in the back.

After breakfast was cooked Clementine peeked at Luke, still snoozing on the floor. When she went back into the kitchen Violet was licking her lips, staring at her stack of chocolate chip pancakes and side of bacon. "Thanks Clem, it looks amazing!"

Clementine laughed at the amount of syrup and whipped cream topping her pancake stack.

"What?" Violet asked, shoving a heaping forkful into her mouth.

"You're adorable and I love you." Clementine grinned lovingly at her wife. Violet raised her eyebrow and shook her head confused, cheeks bulging with pancake. Clementine only smiled brighter.

At five o'clock on the dot, the doorbell rang. Clementine was rushing around, folding a stray blanket last minute before running to the door. As she opened it, AJ nearly tackled Clementine to the ground.

"Hey there goofball!" Clementine grinned, ruffling his hair.

AJ frowned momentarily before smiling again. "Where's the baby?"

"Violet's bathing him, they should be out any minute buddy." Clementine turned to embrace Lee.

"How're you doing sweet pea?" Lee asked, giving her a squeeze.

"So good Lee." Clementine pressed her face into his chest, enjoying the comfort she always felt in his arms. Lee released her and she moved on to hug Carley.

"Hey Carley, thanks for coming over." Clementine stepped away and led them all into the living room. Carley and Clem sat on the couch, Lee sat in the recliner and AJ sat on the floor, ready to play with Luke. As they all settled in Violet walked out holding a fresh clean Luke in footy pajamas, the group collectively 'awww'd' as they saw him. Carley jumped from her seat, cutting off AJ's approach and grabbing him from Violet. AJ slumped back on the ground, crossing his arms angrily.

"Come to Cici!" Carley cried, hugging the boy and smelling his sweet head.

"Cici?" Clementine giggled.

Lee smiled, "Carley's trying out Grandma names."

"You don't like it?" Carley frowned, "It took me a long time to come up with that..."

"Nonono, it's cute." Clementine tried to reassure her, "What's your Grandpa name going to be Lee?"

"I was thinking he could just call me Grandpa." Lee shrugged.

"It's perfect." Clementine smiled.

Violet nodded, "I can see you as a Grandpa, simple, classic, strong." Violet sat next to Clementine on the couch, taking her hand in both of hers.

"Sure... his is perfect... he didn't even try." Carley said in a high pitched baby voice, as she bounced Luke on her hip and tickled his neck.

"They're just trying to flatter me, hun. They must need money or something." Lee laughed.

"Can you put Luke down so I can play with him now pleeeeeease?" AJ begged. Carley sighed and sat down on the floor, setting Luke down between them. AJ grabbed a disco broccoli toy laying on the ground and squeaked it above Luke's head. Luke followed it with his eyes, cooing and giggling. Every time Luke giggled AJ giggled, everyone in the room watched and smiled at them for a minute.

Clementine broke her eyes away from the adorable distraction, "No, we don't need any money Lee but we do have something we wanted to tell you. We don't know how long it could take, and we don't want our kids too far apart in age so... we're about to start trying for another baby."

Carley and Lee looked away from AJ and Luke, staring at Clementine with serious eyes, "Clem, honey, do you think that's a good idea? Especially this soon and after your... complications?" Carley asked concerned.

"I'm with Carley sweet pea, I don't know if that's a good idea." Lee sounded worried.

"You don't have to worry." Violet spoke up before anyone got too upset, she loved Lee and Carley like her own parents but they still intimidated the heck out of her. "I'm not letting Clem go through that again, I'm doing it this time." They were quiet for a moment, only the sound of AJ and Luke's giggles breaking the silence.

Carley stood up, sitting next to Violet on the couch, wrapping her arms around her in a hug, "I hope it all works out sweetheart."

"Thank you!" Violet returned the hug.

"When do you start trying?" Carley asked.

"They are extracting Clem's eggs on Monday and implanting them in me on Friday if all goes well," saying it out loud made it feel so real, Violet leaned back in her seat, starting to feel nervous. Clementine saw the look on her face and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.

"Dinner's ready if everyone's hungry?" Clementine said, changing the conversation.

"I'm so hungry I could eat a leg!" Lee said, standing from his chair, rubbing his hands together hungrily. "It smells so good Clem, can't wait to dig in."

"I'd like to take the credit," Clementine stood, pulling Violet up with her, "but Violet did it all. She's a great cook." Clementine nudged her smiling.

Violet rubbed the back of her neck embarrassed. "My friend Omar taught me a few recipes, I'm not that great."

Clementine hugged her wife, "Don't be so modest. She's amazing."

Lee, Carley and AJ hugged everyone after dessert, thanking them for inviting them over before leaving for the night. Carley had put Luke down to bed before they left, leaving the couple alone as soon as they closed the door behind their family.

"Dinner was amazing Vi. Thank you for spending time with my family." Clementine said, locking her hands behind Violets head, pulling her in for a kiss.

"They're my family too Clem, I like spending time with them." Violet smiled.

"Great, so I don't need to thank you then." Clementine patted Violet on the cheek and walked back towards the bedroom.

"I- but- I made dinner!" Violet whined, following behind her.


	5. Anniversary

Clementine hurried to finish up her work for the day, typing hurriedly on her computer, inputting records and finishing up some last minute tasks. Clementine was wearing purple scrubs, her favorite color, even before she met Violet. She worked as a Physical Therapist at a facility near the hospital. The hours could be long, often it required her to travel to the hospital to see patients that were unable to make the small trip to the facility. It was a hassle, but the therapy company she worked for had a contract with the hospital, which they threatened to not renew if they didn't basically do whatever the hospital wanted whenever they wanted. It was money the small business couldn't afford to lose.

Clementine sighed as she punched in her last bit of information and signed out for the day, smiling brightly as she packed her bag. Today was her and Violet's 6 year anniversary, Brody said she would stay as late as they wanted so they could go to a nice dinner and maybe see a play at a local theater.

Just as Clementine reached the door, her boss called after her, "Are you leaving Clementine?" Clementine paused, she wanted to pretend she hadn't heard, to just keep walking and not look back, but she turned with a smile. '_What does it look like I'm doing_?' came to her mind but she didn't say it.

"I was. Violet and I have plans tonight." '_Please don't ask me to visit a patient before I go_, _pleeeeeease'_, her head pleaded as she continued to force a smile.

"Is there any way you could run by the hospital on your way home? Emergency room discharge, person was in a car wreck, serious arm damage, they are refusing to be admitted but it could mean a new client for us. You wouldn't need to do anything, just give them our information." her boss explained, she hated how Lilly always made it seem like she had an option, a choice, but when she asked her to do something, she really meant 'go do this thing or I will make your life miserable'.

"Of course, I'll run by the ER on my way home, give them my card." Clementine said.

"We all know speaking face to face to our referrals gets more clients recruited." Lilly smiled as Clementine turned, leaving the building with a glare. Lilly called after her, "Thanks Clementine, you're a team player." As soon as Clementine got into her car she texted Violet.

Me: Have to run by the hospital, going to be late, sorry :(

MyVi: I was just about to text you. Brody went home sick. We can just go out this weekend

Me: Nooo, it has to be today, today is our anniversary, not this weekend

MyVi: uuuuugghhhh, I don't know why you have to celebrate on the actual day, it doesn't matter

Me: It matters to me...

MyVi: Fine... I'll see if I can get Lee or Louis or somebody

Me: You're the best wife ever! Definitely my favorite ;)

MyVi: -_-

Clementine shoved her phone in her bag and drove up to the hospital. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long, she could just introduce herself, hand out a business card and leave. Parking was always awful at the hospital, especially in the evenings when everyone was getting off work and coming to visit loved ones. After parking a ridiculous distance away, she walked into the ER, smiling when she saw Ruby behind the counter.

"Happy Anniversary Sug!" Ruby yelled when she saw her. "How many years has it been?"

"Six!" Clementine was happy she at least got to see a friendly face.

"Not too shabby, how's that boy doin'?" Ruby asked, typing on her computer as she talked. "I see we have a car crash victim flagged for a PT referral."

"He's growing up so fast! You and Aasim need to come by sometime." Clementine was leaning on the counter.

"I know, it's been too long, we will come over soon!" Ruby patted Clementine's hand.

"What bed number is the referral?" Clementine asked.

"Thirteen." Ruby answered, waving at Clementine as she started heading down the hall.

"Thanks!" she called from halfway down.

About an hour later Clementine finally came rushing out of the hospital. It had taken longer than it should have, it always did whenever she had to come into the hospital. People would start asking questions and doctors would pull her aside, once she came in it was always hard to get out.

Me: sorry it took me so long, on my way home, find a babysitter?

MyVi: Drive safe, I'm sorry I didn't, we can still go out this weekend, it'll be okay

Me: okay...

MyVi: I'm putting Luke down now

Me: Tell him mama says goodnight and I love him and miss him and I'm sorry I couldn't kiss him goodnight

MyVi: Clem, he's 9 months old

Me: :'(

MyVi: ...I'll tell him

Me: =D

Clementine pulled into the garage thirty minutes later. She threw her name tag into the passenger seat. It had been a busy day, even though all their plans had fallen through, she was just glad to be home. As she opened the door that led into the kitchen, she was met with darkness. Every light in the house was off and a flickering light was coming from the dining room.

"Vi? Why's it so dark in here?" Clementine called out as she dropped her bag in it's usual spot by the door and kicked off her shoes. "Vi?" Clementine walked into the dining room where the light was emanating. The dining room table had two plates, laden with food, candles lighting the room and standing at the held of the table, rubbing her arm nervously was Violet. Only Violet was wearing a little black dress with thin straps, she had a light coating of make-up on her face, and her hair was pulled up in an elegant do. Clementine opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, no words coming out.

"Happy anniversary?" Violet said, it came out as more of a question than a statement.

"Violet..." Clementine eliminated the space between them as quickly as she could, pressing her lips against Violet's, running her hand down her sides until they reached the hem of her dress and started coming back up, pushing the dress along with them.

"Clem!" Violet gasped against her lips, turning her head away as she grabbed Clementine's hands to prevent them from going up any further. Clementine, frustrated at being denied Violet's lips, moved on to her neck. "Clem!" Violet repeated somewhat breathless.

"What?" Clementine asked between kisses.

"I- I..." Violet started getting agitated as Clementine's hands resumed their trek.

"You...?" Clementine grinned, enjoying seeing Violet all red and flustered.

"I... I worked hard on all of this..." Violet managed to get out, grabbing Clementine's hands once more, "Can... can we at least eat first?"

Clementine stopped her kisses so that she could look into Violet's eyes, "That's what I was trying to get to if you'd stop grabbing my hands."

"C-Clem!" Violet gaped, "You know what I mean."

Clementine stepped back with a frustrated groan, "Alright, alright." she threw her hands up in defeat, "It's not fair of you to tease me like that though. You didn't even wear a dress at our wedding."

"I thought you liked my tux..." Violet frowned.

"I did!" Clementine reassured, grabbing Violet's hands, "You were absolutely gorgeous. This is just... different..."

"Does it look alright, really?" Violet pulled her hands away and flattened the material of her dress, looking down.

Clementine cupped her face, "You look hot."

"Food?" Violet asked as Clementine started leaning in again.

Clementine frowned at her rejected advances but smiled as Violet pulled a chair out for her. Violet sat in the chair across from her, smiling awkwardly, "Is all this okay?"

"This is more than okay!" Clementine reached her foot out under the table and set it on top of Violet's, "You are so thoughtful, this is amazing. The food looks great and who did your hair and make-up?"

They continued to talk as they started eating, "I did," Violet admitted, "Brody was going to do it but she wasn't looking so good when I got home from work so I drove her home, then drove Marlon back here to drive her car home. I've done make-up before, I'm just not very experienced at it..."

"You did a great job. Did you have all this planned the whole time? Were we ever really going to go out?" Clementine asked.

"I was going to take you to this really fancy place for dinner and dancing. This was plan B," Violet grinned sheepishly.

"Did you have the dress picked out already?" Clementine asked, running her foot up Violet's leg, causing her to flush and Clementine enjoyed watching as she still got flustered after all these years.

"Yeah... I was going to wear it dancing with you tonight. Brody helped me pick it out." Violet focused on her food.

"You look hot." Clementine said, reaching for her empty glass.

"Oh!" Violet jumped from her seat and grabbed the bottle of wine set off to the side, pouring Clementine a glass.

"Thank you." Clementine smiled, "I feel a little silly... still wearing my scrubs while you're dressed all... sexy."

"Trust me, I feel silly in this dress, maybe it's for the best that Lee and Carley couldn't babysit, I don't know if I could wear this outside of the house. I feel uncomfortable enough wearing it in the house..." Violet admitted, pouring herself a glass as well.

"The world is missing out then, but I don't mind if you save it for me." Clementine waggled her eyebrows. "I can't believe that Carley would pass up an opportunity to watch Luke though."

Violet laughed, "Apparently your old family friends, Kenny and Katja are in town for a short time. For a fishing convention?" Violet shrugged, "They are going out tonight, it was the only time they could get together."

"I haven't seen Kenny in forever!" Clementine's face lit up, "I can't wait to talk to Lee, see how he's doing. What was Louis up to?"

"He's out of town on a business trip." Violet answered, frowning, "speaking of which, I was asked to go on a trip for my work as well. It's part of my promotion that I didn't realize."

"Why do you look sad, that's amazing!" Clementine clapped her hands together, "That means they really trust you, this is good."

"It's going to be for a whole week and it's going to be the week that I was going to take my pregnancy test." Violet looked down at her plate.

"It's fine, Luke and I will miss you, but this is a good thing," Clementine stood up from her mostly empty plate and walked around to wrap her arms around Violet from behind, "We can face time after you take the test, it'll be like I'm right there with you."

"Who's going to hug me to cheer me up if it's negative?" Violet set her fork down, "Who's going to jump up and down with me if it's positive? This is my second time trying, I don't know if I can handle the disappointment alone..."

"If you're that worried, we can just wait until you get home to do the test." Violet nodded against Clementine's arms. "I can wait to do the test but I can't wait any longer to do you, come on." Clementine pulled Violet's chair out from the table.

"But I made dessert." Violet said, laughing as Clementine fell on the ground dramatically.

"You're killing me. I'm dead." Clementine bemoaned from the floor.

"Fine, we can have dessert after." Violet rolled her eyes as she stood and stepped over Clementine's head, giving her a preview as she headed towards the bedroom. Clementine's eyes widened as she followed Violet out of the room with her gaze. "Are you coming or should I take this dress off myself?" Violet teased.

Clementine scrambled off the floor, running into the bedroom, "Noooooooooo!"


	6. Easter Bunny

**A/N: I know it's not quite Easter yet but this came to mind so I wanted to get it down.**

"Why did we come here again?" Violet grumbled, looking around at the troves of teenagers and crowds of shoppers pushing past one another in the busy mall corridor.

"To get Luke an Easter outfit!" Clementine grinned, smiling down at her 9 month old boy, squeezing his foot as he dangled from the baby carrier attached to Violet. "We're going to Sunday service with your Grandma on Easter and then having dinner at her house after remember? Luke's gonna be the cutest boy there, aren't ya Luke?"

Violet sighed, "He'd be the cutest boy there even if he wore nothing but his diaper."

"Come on, today's a family day! Don't you enjoy spending time together?" Clementine hugged Violet's arm, fluttering her eye lashes at her cheesily.

"Of course I do!" Violet glared, looking offended, "I just prefer to spend time with just you two, at home... Not with these strangers..." Violet eyed the people all around her, making Clementine chuckle.

"If I buy you some pretzel bites will you cheer up please?" Clementine offered, pointing at the nearby soft pretzel kiosk.

Violet tried her hardest to still look grumpy, even though she was excited at the prospect of buttery salted treats, "Maybe..."

Clementine patted Violet's cheek with a smile and bee lined for the pretzel kiosk, Violet following behind. Clementine turned around with the cup of pretzels. She held them up to Violet. "Do you need me to hold Luke so you can eat?"

"No, he can share with me." Violet took the food and Luke babbled as he reached his chubby hands out for it.

"Vi, he's got two teeth, he can't eat that." Clementine looked at her seriously.

"You worry about his clothes and I'll worry about the pretzels." Violet said as she took a bite of a pretzel, revealing it's soft center, she pulled a small bit off and stuck it in Luke's mouth. He smiled as he smashed it around in his mouth with his gums. Clementine rolled her eyes and continued walking along, looking at the shops.

"Oh! Let's go in here!" Clementine exclaimed, dashing into a nearby store with kids clothes displayed in the front. The mannequins dressed in their Easter best. Violet had to wait for an opening in the crowd before she could follow behind her. By the time she got in Clementine was already combing through the racks of clothing, picking things off of shelves and squealing at how cute each item was. Violet rolled her eyes but smiled despite herself, the tiny outfits actually were adorable.

"How about this?" Clementine held up a blue and pink plaid button up short sleeved shirt and grey shorts. Violet eyed it.

"Only if he wears this with it." Violet walked to a nearby display and held up a tiny pink bow tie with matching suspenders.

"Yes! Absolutely yes!" Clementine clapped her hands together, "He's going to be the cutest boy ever!" She brushed her fingers through Luke's hair and kissed him on the head.

"Oh! Oh! And this!" Violet exclaimed, getting excited now too as she caught sight of a blue newsboy cap hanging on a rack, she put it on Luke's head to see if it fit, "Perfect fit! Check out this handsome boy!"

"I'm getting it!" Clementine grinned, grabbing the hat off his head and taking the bow tie and suspenders from Violet, carrying it all to the front of the store to purchase.

After they made their purchase, Clementine clutched the bag of clothes as they walked out of the store. "Your Grandma is going to go gaga when she sees Luke all dressed up!"

"This boy has her heart for sure." Violet continued eating her pretzel bites, giving Luke little tastes as she went.

"I want one." Clementine reached her hand out to take a pretzel, Violet moved the cup out of her range, took one out and stuck it in Clementine's mouth for her.

"Mmmthanks," Clementine mumbled as she wiped the grease off her lips with the back of her hand. "VioletlooktheEasterBunny!"

"What?" Violet laughed.

Clementine swallowed hard, "The Easter Bunny!" she pointed over to roped off section of the mall with a chair surrounded by fake flowers and grass, a person in a bunny suit sitting in the seat, taking pictures with children. "Let's get Luke's picture with him!"

"Uh... Clem... that bunny is creepy..." Violet furrowed her brows at the bunny. "It'll scare Luke..."

"It's his first Easter!" Clementine whined, "We can put him in his outfit and he'll be all handsome and we'll have it to remember his first Easter forever."

"Clem... Look at it's eyes, they just stare... at nothing... I've always hated those things..." Violet shuddered, not taking her eye off the giant bunny.

"You're being silly!" Clementine loosened the baby carrier and pulled Luke out. "Come with Mama big boy, I'm going to get you all handsomed up."

Violet groaned as Clementine took Luke into the family restroom. Violet finished her pretzel bites and found a trash can, keeping one eye on the giant creepy rabbit suit. Before too long Clementine came out, glowing with pride as she held Luke up for Violet to see, "Please Mommy, let me meet the Easter bunny, I wove you!" Clementine said in her baby voice.

"Don't use my son against me," Violet pouted but couldn't keep it on her face long as Clementine made Luke hop around in front of her face chanting "bunny, bunny, bunny, bunny," Luke giggled and squirmed in her hands.

"Fine!" Violet admitted defeat, "but if he's scarred for life and has to go to therapy, you're driving him!"

"Deal!" Clementine squealed as she practically skipped with Luke in her arms to the line. Violet stood with them in line, shaking her head as her wife fiddled with Luke's tie trying to make sure everything was just right. Luke kept grabbing for his hat and Clementine pushed his hands back down. "No no Lukey, leave it on."

By the time they reached the front of the line Luke was getting frustrated at being denied his hat, he was babbling nonstop with furrowed brows that made Violet chuckle, "He is cussing you out in baby language."

"He is not." Clementine looked affronted at Violet's words and glared at her as she took Luke up to sit with the Easter bunny. Violet stood off to the side, all was fine and well until Clementine walked over to join Violet. Luke looked over at his moms then up at the giant furry thing holding him and screamed bloody murder. His face contorted in anger and he reached desperately towards his family.

They clicked the picture and Clementine rushed to scoop Luke into her arms, rubbing his back and whispering soothingly into his ear. Violet stood, hugging her sides as she laughed uncontrollably at the situation. "What did I tell you?" She managed between laughs.

Clementine's eyes pierced Violet's and she attempted to stifle her laughter. The workers printed out the picture and handed it to Clementine. She frowned at it before passing it to Violet, walking off down the hall. Violet looked at it, grinning wide as she caught up to Clementine, "This is going in a frame, it's the best picture ever. I'm sorry I doubted you babe. This was a great idea."

After going with Violet's Grandma to church for Easter Sunday, the girls and Luke headed to her Grandma's house for Easter dinner. They had invited a lot of their family and friends to join as well.

"Happy Easter!" Violet smiled, handing a postcard sized paper with the picture of Luke crying on the Easter bunny's lap, "Happy Easter" written at the top, to Lee as he and Carley arrived at the house. Lee accepted the card with a soft chuckle. Carley looked at it and frowned.

"Poor Luke! Where's he at, he needs a hug from his K K!" Carley cried.

"K K?" Clementine asked with a raised eyebrow, "What happened to Cici?"

"Trying out a new Grandma name?" Violet grinned.

"Do you not like it?" Carley asked, looking flustered, "I just can't come up with anything that works!"

"Anything is fine, whatever you decide." Clementine reassured, "He can't even talk yet, it's no rush." Clementine glared as she saw what Violet was handing out. "I thought I asked you to stop handing those out." Clementine said to Violet in a hushed voice.

"You did," Violet whispered back, "but I think they're funny so I'm handing them out anyway." Clementine turned away with a 'hmph' and stomped off.

"Uh oh," Lee said patting Violet on the shoulder, "Good luck with that, I've seen that look before." He walked towards the kitchen, sneaking a deviled egg from a platter only to be popped on the back of the hand by Violet's Grandma.

Carley looked at Violet, "Where's my baby boy?"

"He's in the backyard with my mom," Violet informed, her eyes still watching where Clementine had huffed off too, knowing she was going to pay for her joke later.

Louis and Sophie arrived, breaking Violet from her thoughts. "Happy Easter!" Violet greeted, handing them a card.

Louis laughed when he looked at it, "This is the best picture ever! I love that little dude."

Sophie smiled brightly, "He's adorable even when he's crying."

"Right?" Violet agreed. Louis continued into the room, hugging Violet's Grandma like she was his own, Sophie following behind.

Marlon and Brody walked in carrying a tray of egg shaped cookies, "We brought cookies!"

"Thanks!" Violet welcomed them in, "Happy Easter!" She said handing them the card. Every one she handed out was digging her grave deeper with Clementine. Brody and Marlon laughed and 'awwww'd' at the photo before heading in.

Aasim and Ruby arrived next, "How you doin' Sug?" Ruby wrapped her arms around Violet, "Where's Clem?"

"She's uh, in the house somewhere," Violet scratched the back of her neck, "Happy Easter." She handed them the card.

"Ohhhh poor boy!" Ruby cried, Aasim smirked at it from over her shoulder.

Since everyone had arrived Violet headed back into the house, sticking the extra couple cards in the diaper bag. Violet headed through the kitchen hugging her Grandma as she passed through to the backyard. Luke was the center of attention as he crawled through the grass picking up plastic eggs and sitting down to examine them as everyone stood around 'ooohhhhing' and 'awwwwwing' at him.

She looked around, seeing all the faces of her friends and family, minus Clementine. She sighed as she sat down in the grass next to Luke, he was trying desperately to shove the plastic egg in his mouth. Violet tried to pry the egg from his hand and everyone laughed when he started yelling at her at the top of his lungs. Violet dropped the egg and he shoved it victoriously back into his mouth.

"Where's Clem?" Violet asked Lee.

"She was out here for a little while then ran back in the house right after Ruby came out, you just missed her." Lee answered, "You in hot water?"

"Yeeeaaah." Violet said, laying back in the grass.

"Violet's in the dog house! Woof woof!" Marlon yelled, everyone laughed, "You better apologize, Rosie doesn't like to share."

"What'd you do Vi?" Brody asked.

"Why does everyone always assume that _I _did something?" Violet said defensively, leaning up on her elbows, glaring around at her 'friends'.

"It's because of these isn't it?" Sophie laughed, pulling out the Happy Easter card.

"_Yes_." Violet grudgingly admitted.

"But it's so cute, Luke and this creepy giant bunny and he's crying..." Sophie smiled as she looked at it.

"It is cute! I guess Clementine thinks I'm making fun of her because she was the one who really wanted to get the picture taken... but I'm not laughing at _her_..." Violet said, sounding unsure.

There was a momentary silence in the yard that Louis took pleasure in breaking, "When's dinner? I'm starving!" he whined, falling onto the ground, holding onto his stomach. Luke laughed and crawled on top of his face.

"I'll go check," Violet stood back up and went into the small kitchen, Clementine was leaned over the oven putting a batch of rolls in, no one else was around. Violet quietly walked up behind her, grabbing her by the hips and pulling her backside flush into her body. Clementine jerked up straight, grazing her arm on the oven rack.

"Ow!" Clementine held her wrist, eyes flashing angrily at Violet, "What are you doing? There's people here." she snapped.

"Come here," Violet spoke softly, taking Clementine by the wrist and leading her to the sink. She turned on the cold water and moved Clementine's wrist under the stream.

"Thanks..." Clementine said, other hand on her hip, not meeting Violet's eyes.

"I'm sorry," Violet held her hand as she examined the red mark on her arm, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Clementine tried to pull her hand out of Violet's grasp but she held firm.

"Clementine don't be mad..." Violet pulled her into a hug, "love me."

Clementine rolled her eyes, "I never stopped loving you, I'm just mad that you handed that picture out to everyone."

"Why?" Violet nuzzled her cheek against Clementine's feeling her soft skin, "it's adorable."

"It..." Clementine spoke quietly, "It makes me feel like a bad mom."

"Clem, babies cry, giant bunnies are scary. Luke is fine, he's not even going to remember this in a few weeks, he probably doesn't even remember it now." Violet reassured, continuing to snuggle her cheek, "No one looks at that picture and thinks you're a bad mom, they just think Luke is cute, that's it." Violet kissed her cheek. "Can we just enjoy the rest of Easter?"

"Yeah..." Clementine smiled.

"You better keep an eye on those rolls, my Grandma will kill you if you let them burn!" Clementine pushed away quickly, as Violet smirked, and opened the oven, pulling them out just in time. "Rolls are done, I think we're ready to eat, help me take everything outside?"

"Gladly." Violet grabbed the mac and cheese from the counter and brought it to a table outside. Everyone stared at her, practically drooling when she opened the door, "Dinner's ready, as soon as we get everything out here."

Carley scooped up Luke before Violet's mom could and sat at one of the fold out tables, bouncing him in her lap. Clementine and Violet brought out all the food, everyone standing around anxious to dig in. Just as all the food was out, plates stacked and silverware ready to go, Violet's Grandma exited the house and insisted on saying grace.

As she said it, eyes were half open, everyone planning what they were going to devour first, ending with a hasty 'amen' from the crowd.

"I forgot something!" Clementine yelled as she ran hastily back into the house, returning with a bowl full of chicken nuggets. She set it on the table with the rest of the food.

Violet grinned, "For me?"

"I know you're not really fond of ham..." Clementine shrugged.

"Even when you were mad at me you made me nuggets?"

"I love you Vi, I don't care how mad I get, I'll always want to take care of you." Clementine grabbed a plate and handed it to Violet, "Now you better grab some before Louis eats them all."

"Hands off, my wife made those for me!" Violet yelled as she chased after Louis with a fork as he carried away the entire bowl of nuggets.


	7. The Beach

"That's mommy calling, Luke!" Clementine squealed as she heard Violet's ringtone and ran for her phone, Luke on her hip. She swiped to answer the facetime, "Viiii! We've missed you!" Clementine held the phone up and away so that both she and Luke were in frame.

"I miss you too babe!" Luke babbled at the phone excitedly, "And Mommy misses you Luke!"

"How's your business trip going?" Clementine set Luke down on the ground near his toys.

Violet shrugged, falling back on her hotel room bed, "It's going pretty well, I would love it actually, but this is just too long to be away from you two."

"I'm glad. You deserve this Vi." Clementine smiled at her wife, who was thousands of miles away in London, "Don't worry, we'll be right here when you get back and we're going on our first family vacation!"

Violet smiled, "I can't wait."

Clementine got serious, "Have you decided what you want to do?"

"What do you want to do?" Violet asked.

"It's your choice. Did you buy it?"

"Right here." Violet held up a pregnancy test. "Maybe we should wait until I get home."

"Whatever you want." Clementine sat down on the couch.

"It's just, this is our second time trying... if it's negative... who's going to cry with me? If it's positive who's going to jump up and down with me?" Violet chewed on a finger nail nervously.

"_I'll_ cry with you. _I'll_ jump with you. I'll stay with you all night if you want but really, you can wait until you're home. You don't have to take it now. It's not like anything will be different in two days." Clementine reassured.

Violet was quiet for a minute, mentally debating with herself, running her free hand through her hair. Clementine waited patiently, peeking a Luke as he used the couch to pull himself to standing position. He was babbling 'mamamamama' as he took tentative steps along the couch.

"Vi! Vi! He's doing it again! He's taking some steps." Clementine shrieked.

"Let me see! I want to see!" Clementine turned the camera around so that Violet could see Luke. "Good job Luke! Mommy's so proud of you!" Violet dropped the phone on her bed so that she could clap. Luke giggled as he continued to shuffle towards the phone, reaching out for it with one hand and then two, now standing unassisted. "Ahhhhhh!" Violet screamed, "Come to Mommy Luke, come to Mommy!"

Clementine jumped from the couch, taking a couple of steps back, using the phone to lure Luke in their direction. She was holding the phone up just out of Luke's reach, tempting him to walk and allowing Violet to see. Both girls bombarding the blonde shaggy haired boy with 'come on's' and 'you can do it's'. Luke smiled wide at his moms and took a tentative step forward, the girls cheered in unison. He took two more steps, swayed on the spot and collapsed onto his bum.

Clementine flipped the camera around and grinned at Violet who she could see was now jumping on her hotel room bed. "He did it! Our boy did it!" Violet yelled, as Clementine grinned back at her.

"He sure did. I love him and I love you." Clementine looked over her disheveled wife, whose cheeks were flushed from jumping, "I wish I could kiss you right now..."

Violet sat back down on the bed, "Me too," she gave Clementine a lopsided smile.

"I'm going to do it." Violet stood up from the bed grabbing the pregnancy test from the night stand, leaving the phone in it's place.

"Wait! Take me with you!" Clementine yelled.

Violet leaned her head back over the phone, "Gross. No. I'll be right back."

Clementine pouted as she waited for Violet to return, watching Luke crawl around the living room, pulling books off the shelf one by one. She could hear muffled cursing coming from the bathroom, "What took so long?" she asked when Violet's face reappeared as she picked up the phone.

"For a stick you pee on the instructions are unnecessarily complicated." Now we have to wait 5 minutes. They sat in silence, Clementine was now laying on her back on the floor as Luke climbed back and forth over her face.

"Has it been five minutes?" Clementine asked, holding the phone out of Luke's reach as he grabbed for it.

"Three." Violet answered, laying down on her hotel bed. The continued to wait, time ticking by slowly, slower than it ever had before, "Five, it's been five minutes."

"Okay, before you look Vi... it's okay, no matter it says, we're going to be okay. I love you." Clementine said.

Violet smiled, "I love you too Clem." She picked up the test and looked at it. Her face was a mask, for the first time in Clementine's life, she couldn't read it.

"What is it Vi? Please I'm dying here!" Violet didn't say a word, but turned the test over so that Clementine could see. Luke thought now was a good time to crawl on top of Clementine's face and lay there. "Not now Luke." She carefully pushed the boy off her face, finally seeing the plus sign on the stick. She screamed, she screamed so loud that Luke started crying. She grabbed him up in her arms, bouncing him up and down, "Sorry Luke, but Mommy's pregnant, your going to be a big brother!"

"We did it Clem!" Violet grinned, moving the stick away from the screen, "In about 8 months, we'll be holding a little Clementine in our arms."

Clementine looked at her wife misty eyed, "We did it... I wish you were here..." her breath hitched.

"Clem, this is happy news, don't cry..." Violet sighed as Clementine started crying.

"Call me tomorrow?" Clementine asked, tears trailing down her cheeks, "I need to feed Luke and get him to bed and then cry myself to sleep in our big empty bed."

Violet frowned, "Clem, I can't leave you like this. We can talk, discuss names while you feed Luke and then you can let me sing him a song before you put him down?"

"Okay," Clementine nodded, wiping tears from her eyes, "I just miss you..."

"I miss you too. I'll be home before you know it." Violet leaned back into her pillows, propping her phone up against her blanket as they continued to talk.

Violet walked in the door, "Clem, I'm ho-" was all she could get out before Clementine nearly tackled her to the ground, pressing her lips against Violet's. Violet kissed back eagerly, dropping her luggage to the ground, so that she could put her arms around Clementine, "Where's Luke?' she asked between kisses.

"Napping." Clementine answered, deepening the kiss.

Violet, felt for the door, closed it and locked it without looking before guiding her wife to the bedroom without breaking the kiss.

"Have we got everything we need? Swim suits? Sun screen?" Clementine asked.

"Yes and yes." Violet answered, sitting behind the steering wheel of the car.

"Diapers, wipes, toothbrushes-" Clementine was cut off by Violet.

"We have everything, I mean, look at our car, it's loaded! I think we have half the house with us. You've gone over the check list ten times. Can we please leave now? If we forgot anything, we can go to a store when we get to the beach." Violet reassured.

"Fine. Let's go, are you so excited for your first real vacation Lukey?" Clementine said from the passenger seat, reaching around to squeeze Luke's hand in his rear facing car seat. Luke giggled.

"Here we go, Everett family vacation here we come!" Violet grinned as she cranked the car.

"That was a nightmare..." Violet pulled the sunglasses off her face, rubbing her eyes before replacing them. "At least now we know that Luke does not like road trips." They had just parked in the hotel parking garage. Both women looking more than a little frazzled.

"MmHmm," Clementine said sarcastically, pulling the boy from his car seat, "Can't wait for the six hour drive home..." His cheeks were stained with tears. Clementine's didn't look dry either. "We're never driving more than an hour from the house again."

"Let's try and not think about that yet. We've got four days to enjoy first." Violet started pulling some bags from the car. "It'll be fun, come on. Let's hit the hotel and then the beach!" Violet clicked on her key to lock the car and led the way up to the hotel room. As soon as they entered the room, Clementine set Luke on the floor near the fold out couch. He chattered gleefully as he crawled around, exploring the new space. Clementine opened the balcony door and stepped out on it, stretching, it felt nice to be out of the car. There room was seven floors up facing the ocean, she closed her eyes listening to the crash of the waves. Inhaling deep, smelling the salt in the air. This. This made the horror of a commute worth it. Violet came up behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"See, this is nice right?" Violet asked, leaning her head on Clementine's shoulder.

"Mmhmm," Clementine agreed, leaning back into the embrace.

Violet ran her hands under Clementine's shirt, she rotated around in Violet's arms, kissing her on the cheek. "People can see us up here you know. All those people on the beach" Clementine pointed to the sand, "And the ones much closer hanging out at the pool." She pointed down to the several people sitting in pool chairs and swimming. A couple of which actually did look to be staring in their direction.

"So?" Violet asked, kissing Clementine on the neck.

"What's with you and hotels? It's like you can't control yourself!" Clementine giggled at her wife, ducking out of her grasp and going back into the room just as Luke started crawling for the balcony. Violet scooped him up into her arms.

"So?" Violet repeated, taking her son out onto the balcony to show him the ocean, sitting down on a chair with him, leaving the balcony door wide open, "What are you doing?"

Clementine was rummaging through her bag, "Putting my swim suit on." Clementine finally found it, pulling it out of her bag with a cheer and headed towards the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" Violet yelled after her, "You can change in the room!" Violet frowned as Clementine blew her a kiss and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Violet sat and stared at the ocean, mesmerized by the waves, Luke seemed to be watching them too, he was quieter than he had been all day.

As the bathroom door creaked open, Violet snapped her head back to Clementine, she frowned. "Why aren't you wearing your red one?"

"The bikini?" Clementine raised her eyebrows, Violet nodded, "Um, have you seen my body lately?" Violet nodded again, waggling her eyebrows this time. "Then you know I'm not bikini ready yet, I still haven't lost all of my baby weight." Clementine patted her stomach, wearing a modest light purple tankini.

Violet brought Luke back in, setting him on the floor and closing the balcony door. He pulled himself to standing against the door and hit his hands on the glass, staring out at the ocean. "Your body is as perfect as it ever was." Violet said seriously, taking the opportunity to tackle Clementine onto the bed, pinning her down.

Clementine squirmed, "I'm laying on the comforter, groooss. Haven't you read the articles about how they don't have to wash these? All the _things_ they find on it when they run tests. Fecal matter and other _stuff_. Let me up!"

"For a kiss," Violet smirked, Clementine leaned up, giving her the quickest kiss of her life, pushing Violet off of her. Clementine shuddered as she threw the comforter on the floor. "I feel like I need a shower now."

Violet laughed, "Don't be so dramatic, and stop reading those articles." Clementine washed her hands and then rummaged through Luke's bag now, finding his swim trunks with little sharks on them, a matching blue swim shirt, swim diaper and floppy fishermen type hat to protect his little baby head from the sun. His hair was so fine still Clementine was worried he'd get a sun burn. As Clementine dressed Luke Violet changed into her swim suit.

Violet made sure to change in Clementine's line of sight, smirking when she noticed how frequently she peeked up from her task of dressing and sun screening Luke.

"Like what you see?" Violet winked, taking longer than necessary to redress.

"Of course I do," Clementine rolled her eyes, "Have I not been giving my Vi enough attention lately?" Violet smiled sheepishly as she pulled on her black one piece suit, followed by some swim shorts. She pulled a t-shirt on over her swim suit and replaced her sunglasses.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Almost," Clementine replied, setting Luke on the ground. She pulled out the sunscreen, slathering it on herself before turning to Violet, "Shirt off." Violet did what she was told and Clementine rubbed the sunscreen on her arms, back, shoulders and neck.

"I can do that myself you know." Violet said, not making a move to try and stop the brunette as she began rubbing it on her face for her. Violet grinned, enjoying the feel of her wife's fingers on her skin.

"I know, but if I have an opportunity to rub my hands all over your body I'm going to take it. All done." Clementine popped Violet on the butt as she was putting her t-shirt on, Violet grinned at her through her t-shirt hole. Clementine walked to the beach bag, making sure it had towels, sand toys, snacks, water bottles and other beach necessities. "I think we're all ready." She pulled the bag onto her shoulder as Violet grabbed Luke, they slipped on their flip flops and headed out of their room, down the elevator and to the white sandy beach.

As the stepped onto the sand, they removed their flip flops and carried them as they walked closer to the water. It was late afternoon, the sun making it's way behind all of the tall hotels, casting a shadow on parts of the sand. They found a piece of shade to lay their towels.

Violet set Luke down in the sand, tore off her t-shirt and grabbed him back up, ready to introduce her son to the ocean. Clementine smiled and pulled out her phone, taking a couple of pictures as Violet stood holding Luke, ankle deep letting the waves wash over her feet. Then, holding Luke under his arms she held him firmly and let his legs dangle into the water as well. He kicked joyfully as small waves lapped at his toes. As a bigger waved rushed in, Violet's eyes widened, she started to pull Luke up but the wave still splashed halfway up his chest. Violet moved to hug and comfort the boy, but noticed he was giggling uncontrollably, squirming to get back down into the water again. Violet obliged with a grin as she splashed Luke in and out of the waves, making sure his head never went under.

Clementine smiled at them from the shore, taking more pictures and a short video before laying back on her towel, putting her forearm over her eyes. She listened to the waves and the sound of her family laughing. Only to be disturbed as whoosh followed by a thud nearby sent sand scattering all over her face.

Clementine sat up annoyed, wiping sand away from her nose and mouth as she spotted the football that hand landed inches from her head. A tall red headed woman ran over apologizing, "I am so sorry, my sister doesn't know her own strength. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Clementine said curtly, trying to comb the sand out of her hair with her fingers.

The girl reached down to pick up the football and froze when she noticed who she had just disturbed. "Clementine? What are the odds! It's been years."

Clementine looked closer at the girl, heart sinking as she recognized the face immediately. "Hello Minerva." Violet had dated Minerva in high school. Seeing her face again brought back a wave of feelings that Clementine hadn't thought about in ages. Clementine and Violet were best friends while she dated Minerva. Clementine was there when Minerva confessed her feelings, she was there when they passed notes in class, when they held hands in the halls and kissed beside the lockers. She was there when Minerva stood Violet up for the prom and she was there when Violet needed a shoulder to cry on. She was there for it all. And it all came rushing back to her in a wave of anger and jealousy.

"You and Violet still together?" Minerva sneered.

"Yes." Clementine knew she sounded rude, that she was being short with the girl but she didn't care. She didn't want to talk to her any longer than necessary. "Well, it's been nice seeing Minerva but-"

Minerva continued, "Is Violet here? It'd be great to see her again." Clementine stood up just as Violet walked back from the ocean, soaking wet and carrying their smiling blonde haired boy with her.

"Minnie?" Violet said, shocked. Clementine's fists clenched at her side as Violet used her nickname. "What are you doing here?"

"Vacation, same as you I imagine." Minerva said as she wrapped her arms around Violet before patting Luke on the chubby cheek. "Is this your son Vi? He looks just like you!"

"He's _our_ son." Clementine answered, moving possessively to Violet's side.

"Is Sophie here?" Violet asked eagerly, Minerva nodded, "Ohhh, I'm going to go talk to her, here." Violet handed Luke off to Clementine and walked off with Minerva, leaving Clementine glaring after them.

She sat down in the shade with Luke, half-heartedly making a sand castle with the wet sand, allowing Luke to smash it as soon as it was built and building a new on in it's place. Trying not to stare daggers at Minerva as she sat with Sophie and her wife in the sand, talking and laughing.

About twenty minutes later Clementine looked up from Luke and noticed that Sophie wasn't with them anymore. Violet didn't appear to be laughing either, in fact, she looked the opposite, was Violet crying? Clementine looked over at Luke, just in time to stop him from shoving a fist full of sand in his mouth and picked him up. She marched determinedly over to her wife.

As Clementine neared the two she could in fact see that Violet was crying. Violet never cried. "What's going on?" Clementine looked down at Violet, but of course Minerva answered instead.

"Just reminiscing." Minerva said, her lips curling up in a smile that only Clementine could see.

"I wasn't talking to you." Clementine said, looking fierce even with a baby balanced on her hip, "Why are you crying Vi?" her voice softened as she spoke to her wife, worry in her voice. Violet never cried, the only time she remembered Violet crying was when-

"I was just telling Minerva about when Luke was born," Violet swiped at her eyes, "I guess it's still too hard to talk about." Violet laughed tearily.

Minerva stood, stepping close to Clementine, squeezing Luke's squishy foot, "Don't worry _Clem_, if anything happens to you, I'd take care of Violet." she whispered it so that only Clementine could hear. "If it hadn't been for you, Violet never would have left me to begin with, but you were always there, hanging off of Violet like some lost puppy. Just waiting for an opportunity push me out." Clementine glared, turning Luke away so that Minerva couldn't touch him anymore. "It's amazing how much he looks like you Vi!" Minerva spoke louder now, "Looking into his eyes is just like looking into yours, gorgeous."

"Thanks, I'd like to think he got all my best traits and none of my bad ones, but we won't know that for sure until he's a teenager," Violet laughed and gave Minerva a watery smile.

"I would love to have an adorable blonde headed son one day," Minerva said loudly before narrowing her eyes and lowering her voice, "Maybe even this one?" she poked Luke in the belly, making him laugh, "How long do you think it will take _me_ to push _you_ out? How long would it take before Luke called me mom?"

Clementine didn't even think as her fist connected with Minerva's face. Minerva stumbled back in surprise. Clementine swung again before hastily pushing Luke into Violet's arms, turning back to Minerva, shoving her hard, "Don't. you. _ever._ threaten. my. family." Clementine seethed, raising her fist again only to be stopped by Violet.

"Clem?! What are you doing?!" Luke was sitting on the ground, watching worriedly, as Violet held Clementine back.

Minerva caressed her quickly swelling cheek, "She's crazy."

"She was saying things so that you wouldn't hear," Clementine tried to explain as her rage was replaced with sadness. "I can't lose you two..." Tears started to leak from Clementine's eyes.

Violet still wasn't sure what had happened, but she hugged her wife tight and spoke softly in her ear, "Hey, it's okay, listen. No one is ever taking me away from you okay? Not Minerva, not anyone." She kissed her on the cheek and stared into her teary eyes. "Okay?"

Clementine nodded meekly, and allowed Violet to drag her back to their little area of the beach.


	8. Room 201

Violet scooped Luke off the ground, running to catch up with Clementine who was swearing as she angrily shoved towels into the beach bag. Violet hated how Clementine could go from mad to sad back to mad in under a second. Dealing with her when she was in one of these moods was always a precarious situation.

"What are you doing Clem? I thought you wanted to have dinner on the beach, you packed sandwiches..." Violet said, watching as Clementine grabbed the picnic basket and dumped the contents onto the sand. "Maybe you can share it with _Minnie_" Clementine spat, taking Luke from her arms and walking towards the hotel. Violet watched as her wife awkwardly stomped through the soft sand until she walked over the dunes and out of sight.

Violet looked back at the mess on the sand. Some family vacation this was turning out to be. She knelt down frustrated and began picking the scattered food off the beach, throwing the sandy packages back into the basket.

"Quite the temper... I don't know why you let her treat you that way." Minerva knelt down next to Violet, one hand holding an ice pack to her face, the other she used to help Violet pick up packages. Violet noticed as Minerva brushed her bare arm against hers and quickly scooted over.

"That level of anger is reserved only for you." Violet sighed, grabbing the towels Clementine had crammed in the bag and started folding them neatly before returning them. She pulled her t-shirt back on and stood. Minerva standing with her. "Where's Sophie?"

"She went up to the pool." Minerva answered, eyeing Violet as she bent over to pick up the loaded down beach bag as well as her and Clementine's forgotten flip flops. "Need help?"

"No, I got it." Violet sighed, walking to the hotel. Minerva followed. Violet knew she shouldn't still be talking to Minerva, that Clementine would be furious if she found out, but she didn't know how to shake her without being rude.

"I could at least carry the flip flops until we reach the pool deck." Minerva reached for the shoes, only to have Violet move them out of her reach.

"Clem won't want to wear them anymore if you touch them, sorry." Violet said, only partially joking.

Minerva shrugged, pulling the ice pack away from her cheek, "What's her deal anyway?" They had reached the pool deck, Violet set the bag down and rinsed her feet and shoes off at a little knee high spout.

"What do you mean 'what's her deal?'" Violet asked, scowling as she slipped her flip flops on, "She's not fond of you is her 'deal', she's not so quick to forgive people that have hurt me, my Clem." Violet smiled at the last part. Thinking of how protective Clementine was of her. How she would give the very hat off her head to keep the sun out of Violet's face, even though it would mean her having to squint into the sun herself.

"That was years ago. Shouldn't she get over that by now? I was dumb back then, weren't we _all_?" Minerva shrugged, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"Clementine wasn't dumb, she was always nice to me, even when I was dating you and her heart was broken. Which she didn't let me know about until after by the way. She never once tried to break us up." Violet smiled at the memory of Clementine confessing her feelings to her. Minerva had stood her up for the dance, never had Violet felt happier to be stood up for something. Clementine pulled her outside of the gym, letting her cry into her shoulder until she calmed down and then she did it. She told her that she loved her, that she had for a long time and the next thing she knew, they were dancing together outside of the gym, where no one else could see. Just the two of them together, best friends, becoming something more.

Violet was about to pick up the beach bag and move up to the room, but Minerva grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear, stopping her dead in her tracts. "Sophie and I have separate rooms, I'm in 201, in case you get tired of playing house for one night. You've gotta be getting bored of the same old thing afte-"

The crack of Violet's hand slapping Minerva's face echoed through the pool area, drawing the attention of several patrons. "Don't come near my family again." Her face was unmistakably serious.

"Violet!" Clementine rushed over to her, dripping wet and holding Luke in her arms.

"Clem? I thought you were in the room..." Violet massaged her stinging hand. "What are you doing here?"

Clementine flushed, looking embarrassed, "I forgot the room key in the beach bag and I couldn't come back for it after I stomped off like that..."

Violet grinned at her wife, leaning in to peck her on the lips, both girls now ignoring Minerva still standing there, mouth agape. "You call that stomping? It was more like slipping and sliding."

Clementine shoved Violet softly as Luke started shivering in her arms. "Oh mama's sorry Luke, let's get you wrapped up." Clementine reached into the bag, pulling out a beach towel, attempting to wrap Luke in it one handed. Violet took the towel from her, held it out with both arms and wrapped Luke up like a baby burrito before taking him into her own arms.

"Wet baby in a towel is the best." Violet smiled, rubbing her nose against Luke's as only his face was visible, everything else was wrapped up tight in the fluffy towel. Violet then nodded her head towards the beach bag, "Your flip flops are over there and can you grab the bag? I got the boy." Violet led the way to the elevators, Clementine slipping on her flip flops and throwing the bag over her shoulder. They left Minerva behind, not bothering to give her any more attention.

When they entered the room, Clementine started up a bath to warm Luke up and get off all the sand and sunscreen, "I'm sorry I got mad at you... Minerva just riles me up. And...I hate it... I absolutely hate it when you call her _Minnie._.." Clementine grimaced as she said the name, like the word itself left a bad taste in her mouth, "It takes me back to Chemistry every time. The two of you holding hands under the lab table. You asking 'Minnie' to hand you the beaker... I know it's stupid... we graduated such a long time ago but Vi... that year was torture for me..." She leaned on the frame of the bathroom door, fiddling with her wedding band.

"I know Clem... I'm sorry..." Violet undressed Luke, tested the water by dipping her hand in to make sure it wasn't too hot before plopping him in the bath, "If I could turn back time, I would never have wasted that year with her. It was torture for me too. I know it looked like everything was great, but it wasn't Clem. I was never happy with Minni-erva, with Minerva." Violet coughed as she caught herself almost saying Minerva's nickname.

"What did Minerva say to you?" asked Violet as she soaped up Luke's hair, trying to get all the sand out. "That made you so mad that you punched her." Violet clarified.

"I don't know if I should say..." Clementine looked down at Luke, splashing him with water as he played with his wash rag, "I never thought I'd say this, but I think she's had enough for one day, if I tell you what she said, you may want to go give her a punch too."

"Please?" Violet whined. "If you tell me why you punched her, I'll tell you why I slapped her."

Clementine's eyes widened and she grinned, "Deal." Then her face got serious, remembering Minerva's two faced sneer, "She kept talking to you and then she'd whisper so that only I could hear her and she said that it was my fault you two broke up and that now she was going to push me out and then... then..." Clementine looked at Violet, making sure that she had the blonde's full attention. Violet took her eyes off Luke, but kept her hands on him to make sure he didn't fall over while she wasn't looking, "she said that Luke would be her son and call her mom and I just snapped." Clementine chuckled slightly, holding up her right hand, showing off the mild bruising to Violet.

"It was a good punch," Violet smiled, kissing her wife's knuckles, "Don't listen to her though, she could never take me away from you and Luke, _nothing _could ever take me away from you two."

They sat in silence for a minute, both knelt next to the tub, rinsing Luke off and pulling him out, wrapping him in a new clean towel. "What did Minerva say to you?" Clementine asked as she dried Luke's hair, making it stick out in every direction.

"She uh, gave me her room number..." Violet said, immediately regretting it as Clementine shoved a diapered but otherwise naked Luke into her arms, fire in her eyes.

"What's her room number? I want to know." Clementine seethed, slipping her flip flops on and making to leave the room, "What is it? I'm going."

Violet laughed, dressing Luke in his pajamas, "There's no way I'm telling you, you'd just go on a murderous rampage."

"Violet." Clementine said warningly, but Violet stood her ground.

"No. You go take a shower while I feed Luke his dinner." Violet pulled Clementine away from the front door, nudging her into the bathroom. Clementine glared but did as Violet recommended.

Clementine turned the water on hot, disrobed and climbed in. After the long stressful drive down with a screaming baby and the mess with Minerva, the warm water felt like heaven. She basked in the warmth of the shower, allowing it to ease her tense muscles, closing her eyes as it ran through her hair. It felt all the better after having been cold, wet, and sandy from the beach. As Clementine listened, she could just make out the sound of Violet singing to Luke in the other room, a content smile spread across her face at the sound.

Moments later Violet poked her head into the bathroom, "You're going to use all the hot water." she smiled, still wearing her bathing suit, "I've been shivering out here for thirty minutes because you insist on cranking the air conditioning all the way down."

"I'm not going to use all the hot water," Clementine stuck her head out of the curtain, "but I'm sorry for taking so long, it just feels so nice in here."

"I'm coming in then." Violet said matter of factly.

Clementine stood partially hidden behind the shower curtain, "What about Luke? He can't be out there alone."

"Luke had a long day," Violet said as she climbed into the shower, swim suit still on, "He's sleeping safely in his pack and play."

Clementine folded her arms over her chest as Violet moved under the warm water, pulling Clementine into an embrace, kissing her on the lips.

Clementine kissed back briefly, "Could you at least shower first? You're getting me all sandy." Violet rolled her eyes before removing her swimsuit and showering off.

Clementine exited the bathroom, towel wrapped around her chest, hair up in a damp bun, she flopped onto the bed. Violet fell down next to her. Already dressed in a tank top and boxers, wet hair loose around her head.

"Does this mean you're ready for round two?" Violet asked, hand on Clementine's thigh, touching the hem of the towel as Violet laid on her side facing Clementine who was sprawled out on her back.

"The towel means I'm lazy and hungry..." Violet opened her mouth, "for pizza." Clementine clarified, cutting off her predictable wife.

"Fine..." Violet stood and grabbed the hotel telephone, looking at the number for room service and hitting the button. As Violet ordered the pizza, Clementine put her pajamas on and climbed into the big bed, glancing over at Luke, watching his chest rise and fall in his sleep.

When the pizza arrived Violet paid and tipped the man at the door, closing and locking it behind her. "Did you answer the door wearing that?" Clementine raised her eyebrows.

"Maybe." Violet shrugged.

"Show some decency woman," Clementine joked as Violet joined her in the bed, bringing the pizza in with her.

"No." Violet said as she propped the pillows up behind her, leaning back comfortably as she opened the pizza box. "Anything good on tv?" Clementine eyed Violet with a smile. She never would allow food to be brought into the bed at home, but at a hotel, anything was game and Violet took advantage of it.

Clementine grabbed the remote, clicking through some channels, "There's a documentary on Paris?" Violet boo'd so Clementine continued clicking before landing on one, "Oh! Cutthroat Kitchen is on, I think it's a new episode too."

"Perfect," Violet said, grabbing a slice of pizza and taking a huge bite, Clementine shook her head at the blonde, laughing and grabbing a slice for herself. "You know you love me." Violet leaned in, pressing her greasy lips on Clementine's cheek, leaving residue behind, causing Clementine to burst into a fit of giggles and push her away.

"I do not." Clementine couldn't keep the smile off her face as she leaned in, placing her own kiss on Violet's cheek. She snuggled contentedly into Violet's side, watching the tv on low volume so as to not disturb Luke and eating pizza straight from the box. "Okay... I do."


	9. Pool Bar

Violet shivered as she laid in the hotel room bed, window a/c unit going full blast, covers drawn tightly around Clementine, leaving Violet with none. She frowned, looking over at Luke to make sure he wasn't cold, he was still sleeping, cuddled up in his footy pajamas with an extra fuzzy blanket snuggled around him. Seeing that he was fine she turned back to Clementine, loosening the blanket from around her so that she could press herself against Clementine's back, pulling the blanket over the both of them.

"Mm?" Clementine mumbled in her sleep at the feel of her wife's body pressing against her, absorbing her warmth.

"Warm me up," Violet said, snuggling her face into her wife's back, "You're toasty."

"I'm a toast." Clementine mumbled, half asleep.

Violet chuckled, "You're toast?"

"Mmhmm," Clementine yawned, "a toast."

Violet grinned, loving when Clementine said silly things when she was half asleep. She always denied vehemently saying them the next day. Violet didn't know why she denied it, she thought it was adorable. She had even videoed her talking once and Clementine just shook her head and said it wasn't her, she was just being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn. Violet smiled at the thought, loving the way her body fit against Clementine's, enjoying the quiet of the morning before Luke woke up, demanding to become the center of attention once more.

Clementine rolled over in Violet's arms, now facing her, "You feeling okay?" She reached down and placed her hand on Violet's stomach, "You haven't thrown up yet. That's good."

"It's still pretty early. I'm only a few weeks." Violet's eyes traveled over Clementine's face. It had matured over the years that they had been together, but she was just as beautiful as ever. "You're beautiful..."

"You need to put your glasses on." Clementine stretched, snuggling back under the blankets, only the top of her head showing.

"I don't need glasses since I had laser eye surgery, remember?" Violet kissed the visible top part of her head. "Go back to sleep. Luke shouldn't be up for another hour." Violet said, looking at her watch.

Violet closed her eyes, focusing on her lower abdomen, where a life was currently growing. It was a strange thought, something she thought she would never experience, never wanted to experience if she was being honest with herself. She would do anything for Clementine though and she wanted another baby as bad as she did, a 9 month sacrifice would be worth it in the end. Anything to keep Clem safe. If she focused intently enough she could sometimes feel the tiniest flutter in her stomach, the tiny fetus moving lightly, she was honestly in awe of the whole thing.

Violet sighed, looking over at Clementine who was still now, sleeping again. Violet carefully got out of bed, pulled on her jeans and a white short sleeved button up shirt. She slid on her flip flops, ran her fingers through her messy hair. She grabbed the room card and her cell phone and quietly exited the room. Violet rubbed her sweaty palms against her pants as she stepped into the elevator and hit the number 2.

Clementine awoke to the sounds of crying, "Vi, could you get him? I just need five more minutes..." She snuggled deeper into the covers. Waiting to feel Violet move beside her, but she never did. "Violet?" She asked, poking her head out of the blankets and looking around. Violet wasn't in bed.

Clementine climbed out, reaching down to pick up a crying Luke. "Shhhh, it's okay Luke, Mama's here." She patted him on the back soothingly. Where was Violet? "Vi?" Clementine called, checking the bathroom, she wasn't there. Clementine walked to the balcony, not there either. She opened the sliding glass door, stepping out onto it. Luke looked around, quiet now. Clementine scanned the beach with her eyes, looking for a blonde head, no where.

She was starting to get worried. Clementine went back into the room, Luke fussing as they left the balcony. Clementine grabbed a pack of baby yogurt bites and poured a few on the bottom of the pack and play and stuck Luke back in, he grinned as he sat up and crammed the bites into his mouth. Clementine grabbed her cell phone and unplugged it from the charger and called Violet. As it rang Clementine paced back and forth in the room, "Answer... answer, answer. Come on Vi..." No answer. The phone beeped and Clementine left a message, "Violet where are you? I'm just worried, please call me back and let me know if you went for a walk on the beach or something okay?"

About half an hour later Violet still hadn't shown up, Clementine's heart was pounding. It wasn't usual for Violet to go out without telling her where she was going and it was even more unusual for her to not answer her phone. Clementine called Sophie, not knowing what else to do.

"Clem? What's going on?" Sophie sounded like she had just woken up, or more likely been woken up by Clementine's call.

"Soph, can you come to my room and watch Luke for me? Violet's gone and she won't answer her phone... I'm worried." Clementine said, holding Luke and pacing.

"Of course. I'll be right there. What's your room number?" Sophie responded. Clementine gave her the number and hung up the phone. She set Luke on the floor and hurried to get dressed. As soon as she heard a knock on the door she opened it wide, finding Sophie there.

"Thank you Soph, thank you so much!" Clementine hugged her quickly, stepping out of the room, "Oh, um, what room is Minerva in?"

"201, why?" Sophie asked, picking up Luke and raising an eyebrow.

"No reason." Clementine waved her off, rushing to the elevator, mashing the down button impatiently. Sophie closed the door behind her, concern etched on her face.

Clementine crossed her arms, taping her foot impatiently. The elevator dinged and she hurried onto it, hitting the button for floor 2. The plan was to go to Minerva's room, threaten her to never come near her family again, maybe punch her again if necessary, then check the pool area and beach for Violet. Her plan was laid to waste though as the elevator doors opened, Clementine could see the door to room 201 from the elevator. Before she could step out, she saw room 201 open and out walked Violet. She was buttoning up her shirt as the door closed behind her.

Clementine's heart dropped, she felt sick and she couldn't stop the broken "...Violet...?" that came out of her mouth. Violet's head jerked to the side, her eyes met Clementine's.

"Clem, wait-" Violet started but Clementine jammed the door closed button before Violet could reach her. She pushed the ground level button after the doors closed, not sure where she was going to go next, not sure what she had seen. Violet was leaving room 201. Room 201 was Minerva's room and Violet was leaving it. Clementine shook her head as the elevator opened on the ground level. She walked to the hotel employee standing in the lobby.

"Excuse me, what time does the pool bar open?" Clementine asked, trying to look casual.

"At 11a.m. ma'am," The older woman said.

Clementine looked at her watch, only 9:30a.m., "Thank you," she threw on a fake smile and wandered out to the sandy beach, kicking her shoes off and leaving them there as she continued towards the water. She stood there for a minute, letting the water lap over her feet. The phone in her pocket started to vibrate. She pulled it out and saw that it was Violet. She held down the power button, shutting it off. A tear started trailing down her cheek. She wiped it away furiously and started walking down the beach, feet in the water as she traveled along the coast.

Her heart ached in her chest. It was a pain that Clementine had never felt before. Her world had been perfect for so long. She and violet dated, married, got good jobs, had their son and now Violet was pregnant with their second child. She had spent her entire life building a precarious castle made out of sand, only for one wave to come and wash it away. How fragile life was. How easily it could crumble to the ground.

More tears seeped from her eyes against her will as she walked down the beach until the hotel was out of sight. As the sun rose higher into the sky, it was starting to get warm out, Clementine bent over and rolled up her now sopping wet jeans up to her knees. She pulled her t-shirt off, revealing her spaghetti strap tank underneath as she turned around and started walking back toward the hotel.

By the time she reached the white sandy beach in front of her hotel her shoulders burned red, feeling warm to the touch, she was certain they had burned but she didn't care. Clementine slipped her feet into her tennis shoes and walked mindlessly to the pool bar just as they slid the partition open.

"I want the strongest drink you have." Clementine told the man as he looked at her sitting on the bar stool.

"And a good morning to you too!" The chipper bartender said, "Vacation not going as planned?"

"You could say that." Clementine said, turning away, hoping to avoid any more conversation, but accidentally stepping into a more serious one.

"Clem? Clementine?" a familiar voice asked. A recognizable boy, well, man, walked up to her, wearing swim trunks, unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt and his same ol' beanie.

"A beanie? At the beach? Really Gabe?" Clementine smirked as the drink was set on the bar next to her. She gave him her room key to have her drinks charged to the room and started sipping on her drink.

"It's my trademark look, I can't go without it," He beamed as he sat on the stool next to her, he reached out with an arm, giving her a half hug, "It's been a long time. How have you been?"

Clementine took a long sip of her drink, coughing slightly as it burned it's way down her throat, trying to avoid Gabe's question. She wasn't usually a drinker. Sometimes a glass of wine with dinner or some fruity concoction at a party but never more than one and never anything strong. She set down her empty glass and signaled for another.

"Good." She answered simply. Things had been good, perfect in fact until this morning. Until she saw her wife leaving her ex's hotel room first thing in the morning, buttoning her shirt up. She was spiraling out of control and she focused on Gabe. "How are you? How's Mari?"

Clementine sipped at her second drink as Gabe talked, "Great! I just got a new job coaching a college baseball team. It's the best job ever. I've got a really great group of boys this year, I think we're going to have a really good season. Marianna is teaching Kindergarten, back at our old Elementary school. Isn't that cool? She and Duck just got married last year. Everything's going well." Gabe turned and ordered a drink from the bar.

"I have a son." Clementine started, loosening up a little bit, trying to talk about something that didn't hurt, "His name is Luke. He'll be one year old in a couple of weeks. He's got the cutest blonde hair and the deepest green eyes..." her heart ripped, even the thought of her little boy was painful. His eyes were a mirror of Violet's, she couldn't look into them without seeing her. "Here, I'll show you a picture." She finished her drink, waving for another as she powered her phone on. As soon as it turned on, notifications started popping all over her phone. Countless missed calls, voice mails and messages from Violet, a few from Sophie. Clementine felt guilty as she swiped the notifications away, she had just abandoned Sophie with her son without an explanation.

Clementine pulled up her camera and swiped, the first picture that popped up was of Violet and Luke playing in the ocean, laughing, tears threatened to spill again as her chest ached in physical pain.

"I... don't want to try and get too personal... we haven't seen each other since middle school... but, are you okay?" Gabe asked kindly, turning to face the curly haired girl that had been one of the closest friends of his childhood. They had never dated but he had definitely had a crush on her. He wasn't sure but he felt like she had had a crush on him as well.

"I... I think my wife is cheating on me..." Clementine blurted out, unable to keep the thought to herself anymore, knowing she shouldn't say anything until she had a chance to talk to Violet, but unable to hold it back. The dam had burst and she sobbed into her hands.

_Earlier_

Violet watched the elevator doors, "Clem, wait-" she started, but the doors had closed and she was gone. Nonononono, Violet screamed in her head. She knew this didn't look good, she needed a staircase, where was the staircase?! She ran around the floor, looking for the emergency fire exit. The image of Clementine's heartbroken face etched into her mind and tearing her apart.

"Why are the stairs so hard to find?!" She yelled to herself as she ran around, looking down corridors frantically, "If there was a fire I would be dead. dead. dead. dead. I'm dead without the fire..." Violet's breathing quickened as she finally found the staircase, she ran down them as fast as she could, skittering into the lobby. She looked around, eyes wild, nothing... No Clementine.

Maybe she went back to the room? Violet ran back to the staircase, running up them two at a time. She called Clementine's number as she ran. No answer. By the time she reached the seventh floor she was breathing heavy, gasping for breath and running for the room door, swiping her card and jerking the door open.

"Clem, it wasn-" Violet stammered, coming face to face with Sophie.

"Clementine went out looking for you, she was worried." Sophie said, sitting on the bed, watching cartoons with Luke.

"Well... she found me..." Violet ran her hands through her hair nervously.

"Then where is she?" Sophie questioned, confusion on her face.

"She ran off when... when she.. uhm, found me leaving Minerva's room..." Sophie's jaw dropped.

"Violet... Vi... Why? What were you doing in Minnie's room?" Violet could hear the slight shake in Sophie's voice, the disbelieving tremor in her words.

"I went down there while Clementine was sleeping this morning." Violet sat on the bed next to Sophie, Sophie gave her a disapproving glare, "Don't... don't look at me like that! It's not what you think."

Sophie raised her eyebrows, "I'm waiting for an explanation. A _good _one."

"I just wanted to talk to her." Violet shrugged, "I knew Clementine wouldn't approve, but I just needed to okay Soph?" Sophie continued to look at her dumbfounded. "I wanted to make sure she stayed away from Clementine. I know how vindictive she used to be. I wanted to tell her not to ever talk to my wife again. Then she spilled this drink on my shirt." Violet gestured to her shirt. "So I took it off but then she tried to make a move on me and I rejected her and started to leave and then... there was Clementine standing in the elevator looking like I stabbed her in the heart and I can't find her!"

Violet's eyes watered and Sophie patted her hand, "She's probably just cooling off somewhere, she'll be back, let's give her some time."

"Yeah... okay..." Violet answered, standing up and walking anxiously around the room again.

"It's been over an hour, I'm going to look for her." Violet said resolutely, going towards the door, "Are you okay here with Luke?"

"Can I get him dressed and take him to the pool?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine, his swim stuff is hanging in the bathroom drying." Violet opened the door.

"Good luck!" Sophie called after her.

Violet headed down the staircase again, her body was too full of nervous energy to stand and wait for the elevator. When she got down to the bottom she scanned the lobby, exited out the back and scanned the pool area, just as she started to move on to the beach she heard a familiar giggle coming from the bar area off to the side.

She looked in that direction, spotting a very familiar curly headed brunette doing shots at the bar with some idiot in a beanie. Who wears a beanie to the beach? Violet marched in that direction, fear replaced by anger as the beanie boy rested his hand on her wife's bare shoulder. Her blood boiled.

"Clementine, we need to talk." Violet said, voice shaking.

"The time for talking is over, the time for drinking is now." Clementine laughed as she raised her shot clinking it against Gabe's, both of them throwing it back. Violet folded her arms, eyeing the boy next to her wife.

"And you are?" She asked the idiot in the beanie.

"The name's Gabe, me and Clementine went to school together. I moved away in middle school." Gabe explained, seeming less intoxicated than Clementine. "Are you her wife?"

"Yes." Violet positively seethed, "Are you trying to get my wife drunk? Clementine hates getting drunk."

"She was upset because of you, I cheered her up, you're welcome." Gabe clinked glasses with Clementine again as she had her glass in the air, waiting for him. Another round down.

"Come on Clem, let's go to the room and talk, I'll get you some coffee. That always seems to make you feel better." Violet said reaching out for her wife.

"No." Clementine said, leaning back against the bar, "I don't want to go with you." She pushed Violet's hands away.

"Clem, we need to talk in private." Violet grabbed her gently but firmly by the hand.

"I don't want to talk." Clementine attempted to pull her hand away.

Gabe stood up, puffing his chest out, "I think she said that she didn't want to go with you."

"You got her drunk. Clementine doesn't get drunk. I'm not going to leave her out here for you to take advantage of." Violet released Clementine's hand, standing up to Gabe, staring him right in the eye. Gabe backed down slightly.

"You cheated on her. What right do you have bossing her around?!" Gabe countered.

"I didn't cheat on her! I would be stupid to cheat on her, look at her!" Violet yelled waving her arm in Clementine's direction.

"You didn't cheat on me?" Clementine asked, eyes wide, lip trembling.

"Of course not, now can we please go talk in the room so I can explain it to you?" Violet pleaded, Clementine nodded slightly, placing her hand in Violet's, swaying slightly as she stood. "And then I'll explain it to you again tonight when you're actually aware enough to understand what I'm telling you." Clementine nodded again, half smiling, allowing herself to be led back into the hotel.

"Bye Gabe! See you later! Maybe we can catch up more at dinner?" Clementine yelled behind her as they went. Violet glaring as she walked.


	10. Perfection

"Where's Luke?!" Clementine cried as she and Violet entered their hotel room. She looked around for him, throwing pillows and blankets off the bed as if he were hiding under them. Violet pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Sophie took him to the pool." Violet told her highly intoxicated wife, "Listen to me for a minute though okay?" Violet grabbed her by the waist to keep her from continuing her fruitless search.

Clementine grinned at Violet, wrapping her arms around her neck, looking straight into her eyes, trying to give her her full attention. Violet started to talk, "Clementine, I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was going to Minerva's room this morning. I thought you would follow me and kill her if you knew-" But over Violet's shoulder the sun was shining outside the window, big fluffy clouds in the air, the ocean waves crashing on the white sand and all of that combined quickly drew Clementine's attention away.

"We need to get dressed and go to the pool with Luke, it's such a beautiful day!" Clementine moved away from Violet and started throwing her clothes to the ground as she went to her suitcase, rummaging through it.

"Clementine, I need to explain why I-" Violet stopped mid sentence as Clementine pulled out a red swimsuit. "I thought you didn't bring that one? You said..." Violet thought about how Clementine had said she didn't bring it because she hadn't lost her baby weight yet, but thought it best not to bring it up.

"I brought it for _you_. Not the beach, but if you think it looks fine, then I'm wearing it." Clementine said as she put on the red bikini, Violet appreciated how well she filled it out compared to the last time she had seen her wearing it, but remembered how that idiot in the beanie was hanging around the pool and wasn't so sure how she felt about Clementine leaving the room in it now.

Clementine grabbed her hat and the beach bag and started walking for the door. "Maybe put a shirt on before you leave?" Violet held up one of her t-shirts but Clementine just waved her off as she put on her flip flops, "The pool is literally one minute away, I don't need a shirt." Clementine reached for the door.

"Wait! Wait for me!" Violet yelled, going into the bathroom to grab her bathing suit to change into. Clementine tapped her foot, waiting at the door. "Ahhhhahahhhh!" Violet cringed as she pulled on her still damp and freezing cold swim suit. "Putting on a cold wet swimsuit is the worst!" Violet shivered. Clementine chuckled and dropped her things on the floor to wrap her arms around her wife in attempts to warms her up.

"Here, take some of my body heat." Clementine nuzzled against Violet's cheek, the nuzzle became a kiss that she peppered along her jawline.

"Clem? We need to go get Luke." Violet said, hands distractedly caressing Clementine's bare sides.

Clementine snapped back from Violet, "Luke! My baby! Mama's coming!" Clementine ran out of the hotel room leaving Violet to grab the beach bag and follow her out the door, frowning slightly at the situation, but staying close to keep an eye on her. Clementine excitedly pushed the button for the elevator as Violet attempted to put on sunscreen as the elevator went down. The pool area was mostly empty, most people were probably spending the day at the beach, but a few people were scattered around, lounging in chairs and floating in the water.

Sophie and Luke were easy to spot. Luke's blond hair gleaming in the sun. Sophie was holding him on the steps of the pool, letting him splash around in the shallower water. On seeing the boy Clementine jumped into the deep end, still wearing her hat. Amazingly it stayed on her head as she resurfaced, shrieking from the cold, she swam to Luke arms wide open.

"Come to Mama Lukey!" Clementine grinned, Violet's eyes widened as she ran around the edge of the pool to the stairs, holding her hand out to stop Sophie from handing the boy over. Clementine pouted at her wife in disappointment, "I want to hold my son."

"You are not holding Luke, in the pool, while you're drunk." Violet explained as she dropped her things on an empty chair and sat on the stairs next to Sophie, taking her son to comfort him as he reached out for Clementine muttering 'mamamama'.

"Drunk?" Sophie asked with a grin, looking at the brunette, she only ever remembered Clementine getting drunk one time and that was way back in college. "Clementines don't get drunk, but if I remember correctly it's a shame that they don't. Clem's a happy drunk."

"I'm not drunk!" Clementine pouted grumpily for only a second before bursting into a fit of giggles, "okay... maybe a little..." She dipped partially under the water, blowing bubbles, making Luke squeal and laugh. Violet held Luke close so that he could make futile grabs at them.

"Sunscreen!" Clementine yelled, eyes widening in recollection as she stood up in the pool, she gave Violet and Luke a pinch on the cheek as she passed them before collapsing in a pool chair next to their bag and toweling off.

"I don't like it..." Violet admitted to Sophie, keeping her eyes on her wife, "Even if she is a happy drunk. I just... it reminds me of my dad... losing control... I promised I'd never be like that. I don't want either of us to be like that..."

"Vi... Clem's not an alcoholic, this is the second time she's ever had too much to drink and you've been together since high school!" Sophie gave Violet's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "I'm guessing she was pretty upset that you were in Minerva's room?"

"I assume so, she was too drunk to care by the time I found her. Which was the point I guess." Violet tried to put on a smile for Luke as kicked at the water, looking at Violet for confirmation that he was doing a good job, "I just hate that I'm the one who drove her to it."

"It was a misunderstanding!" Sophie sighed, grabbing Violet by the chin, "You didn't cheat on Clem, Clem is not an alcoholic, everything is fine. Stop trying to find problems in your perfect life, with your perfect wife and your perfect son with your perfect baby on the way." Sophie poked Violet in the stomach, gaining a glare from the girl.

"You're right... I'm sorry... this vacation has been a lot more stressful than I thought it would be..." Violet sighed, "And now I feel guilty for thinking how much easier going to the beach was before Luke was born... but I love him..." Violet started to sniffle, Sophie raised her eyebrows as Violet hugged Luke tight to her chest.

"So... pregnancy hormones... that's a real thing huh?" Sophie laughed as Violet took a playful swing at her that she easily dodged. "As much fun as it is getting attacked by my best friend, I really should go find Minnie and give her a piece of my mind." Violet nodded as Sophie leaned down, kissing Luke on his chubby cheek and hugging her friend goodbye. "Try and enjoy the rest of your vacation, okay?"

Violet nodded as Sophie walked away. She held Luke up and looked him in the eye. "It's just you and me now kid!" Luke giggled as he grabbed at her nose. Violet nuzzled her forehead against his and eased into the pool slowly. She held Luke under his arms and walked around the pool with him as he kicked his feet. She vibrated her lips together making motor boat noises, that he tried to mimic, as she trailed him through the water. Violet grinned when he made a successful attempt and looked up at Clementine to see if she noticed, but Clementine was busy talking to a certain beanie headed boy. Violet sent a piercing glare in his direction.

He was sitting at the foot of the same lounge chair as Clementine, entirely too close, which Violet didn't like. His eyes were not staying on Clementine's face nearly as much as they should, instead following Clementine's hand as she rubbed sunscreen on various parts of her body, which Violet definitely didn't like. But when he saw Clementine struggling to reach her back and he took the the sunscreen bottle from her, pouring some into one of his hands, she absolutely started to fume.

Violet tried to take a few calming breaths, wanting to salvage what was left of an already stressful vacation. _Calm down Violet, committing murder will only make things worse, not better_, she tried to assure herself. Violet wished Sophie was still here to take Luke, but she was gone. Violet secured Luke to her hip, ready to go _calmly_ and _politely_ tell that beanie wearing loser to keep his dirty rotten hands off her wife but when she looked up at him again, her calm was lost. This Gabe guy or whatever the heck his name was had crossed a line, he was now sitting there, in broad daylight, for the whole world to see, dumb grin on his face, laughing like an idiot and wearing Clementine's hat.

"Okay, Luke, what you're about to see isn't going to be nice, it isn't going to be pretty, but it's gotta happen. Understand buddy?" Luke smiled at Violet and she nodded back at him, taking his smile as understanding. Violet marched purposefully out of the pool.

"Violet!" Clementine cheered seeing her wife stand at the foot of the chair, dripping water all over the dry pavement. "Gabe was just helping me with my sunscreen."

Gabe sat frozen, sunscreen still on his hand, poised over Clementine's back, stopping right before he made contact. Clementine's hat on his head askew over his beanie. Violet reached forward, snatching the hat off of his head, looking at it worriedly as if it had been contaminated by the beanie. After deeming it safe Violet plopped the hat onto Luke's head, a family heirloom returned to it's future owner. Luke pulled at the hat giggling as it fell in front of his eyes, but unable to remove it.

Violet stared threateningly at Gabe. Clementine looked confused at the boy behind her. Gabe kept his eyes trained on Violet as he rubbed the excessive amount of sunscreen off on his hands and swim trunks, "Um, uh, I-I need to go. Sorry Clem, I have to, uh, go." He stood from his seat, backing up, not looking away from the blonde. He bumped into a pool chair, his foot became entangled in a life jacket as he wasn't watching where he was going. He hopped around, trying to remove it from his leg as he reached the edge of the pool and slipped in.

Violet smirked, Clementine still looked confused at Gabe, having not seen Violet's sinister gaze, as Gabe flopped around dramatically in the pool. Violet handed Clementine her son who was still wearing her hat and her face brightened at the sight, she started cooing at her boy, "Now that's my boy! That's mama's boy! You are my son and the one true king!" Clementine held him high in the air, chuckling.

Violet slipped behind Clementine on the pool lounge chair, so that Clementine was positioned between her legs, and she grabbed the sunscreen bottle pouring it onto her hands. Just as Gabe started climbing out of the pool Violet started rubbing the sunscreen on Clementine's back. He looked at Violet with a pathetic excuse for a glare, so Violet did the most spiteful thing she could think of, she ran her hands to the front of Clementine's body, pulling her back slightly so that she could trail kisses down her neck, she tasted like sunscreen but the defeated look on Gabe's face made it worth it.

Clementine giggled, leaning back, still holding Luke firmly on her lap. Violet waited for Gabe to be out of sight before she pulled away. Clementine frowned, "Viiiiiiii," she whined.

"I'm going to finish putting sunscreen on your back, lean up." Clementine sat up, cross legged, resting Luke in her lap as Violet continued to massage sunscreen into her back. Clementine pulled her hat off of Luke's head, placing it back on her own before pulling his back into her stomach, she held him gently by the wrists helping him do patty-cake. They sat together, finally a peaceful moment. Violet taking longer than necessary to rub the sunscreen in, thoroughly going over her shoulders and neck as well. Even though she didn't like Clementine being drunk, she wasn't looking forward to having a hungover, moody Clementine to handle later that night.

"Violet?" Clementine said, turning slightly to face her wife.

"Yeah Clem?" Violet answered, raising an eyebrow with a smile.

"I love our family." Clementine smiled.

Violet grinned as she leaned around her wife wrapping her arms around both her and Luke, hugging them tightly to her chest, "I love our family too."

Violet sat on a plastic patio chair on the balcony of their 7th floor hotel room. The sun was setting, not directly over the ocean, but just to the side, the way the light reflected off of the clouds still made for a beautiful sight. It had been a long day, more or less peaceful after the Gabe incident. Besides Clem being a little extra giddy they had fun swimming at the pool and in the ocean.

Luke was sleeping in Violet's arms, she stared down into his face as his hair wafted around in the light breeze. His long eyelashes rested peacefully against his cheeks. Violet remembered the first time she had held him, how she had been so scared and alone. So afraid that she wouldn't be enough. While she was still grateful Clementine was here to help her, she knew that she could and would do anything for this boy. She leaned down and kissed him softly on his forehead.

The peaceful sound of the ocean waves only interrupted by the noise of Clementine retching from inside the room. Violet sighed as she got up, careful to not jostle Luke as she brought him in and laid him down in his pack n play. She walked into the bathroom, turning around immediately and walking out as the smell made her want to vomit as well. Violet walked a safe distance away. "Are you feeling any better Clem? I-I can't go in there or I'll be puking right next to you." Clementine retched again. Violet pulled some blankets off the bed and pulled them onto the balcony, making a cushion. She grabbed the patio chair and brought it inside the room and out of the way, grabbed a couple pillows and brought them outside as well. Violet went back in, grabbed a bottle of water and a couple of motrin and waited against the wall outside the bathroom door. She listened to the sound of the flush followed by the sink and the splashing of water.

As soon as Clementine exited Violet handed her the pills, she took them gratefully as Violet grabbed her arm and pulled her to the small private balcony. "Vi... What are you doing? I just want to get in bed, go to sleep, and never wake up again..." Violet helped ease Clementine onto the padding of blankets, she laid down behind her, wrapping an arm around her as they stared out at the ocean, the sun almost completely set now, just the faintest light glowing on the horizon.

"This is beautiful..." Clementine grinned, despite her pounding head and aching muscles. The stars were bright and the sky was clear. Violet laid on her side, head propped up on her arm.

"I'm sorry I hurt you Clem. That I broke your heart so bad that you had to escape from your pain... I'm sorry." Violet spoke softly, practically whispering in her ear now. "I would never cheat on you. I would never risk what we have. I would never want to, what we have is perfect."

"I get mad at you a lot." Clementine frowned, "I'm too stubborn and you know it. You call that perfect?"

"There's no such thing as perfect, but you're perfect for me and I hope you think I'm perfect for you..."

Clementine winced as she attempted to roll onto her back so that she could face Violet, her head pounded and she went back to her side, facing the ocean, "You are my perfection," Clementine said, "Just... don't ever go talk to Minerva alone again... and... don't let me drink that much anymore."

"Agreed." Violet chuckled, she pressed a kiss to Clementine's temple. She moved her arm from Clementine's waist and started running her fingers through her hair. The two stared at the stars, eyelids getting heavy from the long day, slowly drifting into a peaceful sleep.


	11. First Birthday

Clementine bustled around the kitchen of their small home. Vacation was over, if you could even call it that. Incredibly stressful trip to the beach that somehow had every annoying person from their past there at the same time, was more like it. Now they were busy preparing for Luke's first birthday party. Everyone would be coming to their house to celebrate the next day.

"Slow down Clem!" Violet said, catching her wife around the waist, stopping her from clearing the dishes off of the table.

"I can't." Clementine looked more than a little flustered, "The house is a mess, we still haven't unpacked everything from the beach, we're way behind on laundry, I have to start making the birthday cake and I haven't even made the snacks yet." Clementine got more and more overwhelmed as she listed all the things off to Violet, tears started brimming in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down." Violet pulled her into her chest, kissing her head. "It's just a birthday party for a baby."

Clementine started to cry at that, "H-he's not going to be my baby anymore!" she hiccuped as she cried, soaking the front of Violet's 'No Doubt' t-shirt.

"He's growing up. It's okay. He's healthy and happy." Violet rubbed her back reassuringly, "He's going to be a baby for a long time. Is that what has you all stressed?"

"Yes... and no." Clementine admitted, pulling her head back to look at Violet, "All of our family and friends are coming to our tiny house, everything has to be perfect and rain is in the forecast, we need our yard, everyone is not going to fit inside here." Clementine pulled out of Violet's arms and continued cleaning the dishes off the kitchen table, loading the dish washer as she mumbled to herself. "first i'll clean the kitchen, then i'll make the cake, then i'll have to clean the kitchen _again," _

"The party isn't until tomorrow night, we have plenty of time to get everything done." Violet sighed, watching as her wife started the dish washer and began sweeping the floor, "Here's what's going to happen." Violet took the broom out of Clementine's hands, receiving an agitated glare from the brunette as she put her hands on her hips, tapping her foot in frustration. "You start working on the cake, I'll finish unpacking, clean the house and keep the laundry rotated. When we're done we can go shopping together. I'm going with you to make sure buy something already made, none of this pinterest garbage, you always try to stress yourself out over. Got it?"

"Sounds like you're trying to boss me around Mrs. Everett." Clementine's glare softened, "I like when you take charge, you should do it more often." Clementine pecked Violet on the lips and started pulling out cake pans and ingredients. Violet smiled at her success and continued the task of sweeping the floor before Luke started crying, waking up from his nap.

Clementine's ears perked up and she stopped what she was doing heading straight for Luke's room but Violet cut her off. "I'll get him, you make the cake."

"But I have to feed him." Clementine patted her chest in reminder, "only a couple more weeks before he's weaned completely."

"Fine, new game plan!" Violet held Clementine by her shoulders, "You feed Luke, then hand him off to me, then we resume our original game plan." Violet nodded at the idea of her own plan. Clementine pulled the blonde into a hug.

"I love our team." Clementine chuckled into Violet's shoulder.

"Me too." Violet kissed the side of her head before pushing her gently away, "Now go! I hate listening to our tiniest teammate cry." Clementine rolled her eyes as she left the room.

Violet went to the closet and pulled out the baby carrier, she attached it around her body like a reverse back pack, leaving a big baby sized pocket in the front. After she had it attached and ready to go she continued sweeping the kitchen, started a load of laundry and began unpacking the beach bags that were laying in a pile in the dining room.

Clementine came out carrying Luke on her shoulder, patting his back, a few tears running down her cheeks.

"Clem," Violet frowned when she saw her, "why are you crying? I thought you were so excited to be done with breast feeding?"

"I am. I hate it, but I'll miss it. I know that sounds stupid." Clementine leaned into Violet's chest, asking for a hug without saying anything. Violet obliged, wrapping both her and Luke in a tight embrace. Clementine laughed lightly to herself, quickly kissing Violet on the neck before pulling away. "Aren't I supposed to be comforting you? You're the one that's pregnant."

"I'm a rock, this pregnancy's going to be a piece of cake." Violet said confidently. Clementine 'hmm'd' her response, raising an unsure eyebrow but not saying anything. "Speaking of cake, go make it!" Violet snatched Luke from Clementine's arms and stuck him in the baby carrier pouch attached to her chest. "You're coming with me bud, you're going to help Mommy clean the house." Luke gurgled in excitement as Violet tightened the straps, securing him in. Violet continued putting up beach gear and cleaning, Luke pulling at things in Violet's hands if she held them too near.

"Alright! The cake is done, I can't frost it until tomorrow morning. It needs to cool at room temp and then freeze over night. Ready to go to the store?" Clementine announced as she took off her apron and rehung it in the pantry. Violet was now vacuuming, Luke wasn't afraid of the vacuum like a lot of babies were. He smiled every time Violet pulled the handle close to him and frowned as she pushed it away.

"Almost," Violet shouted over the roar of the vacuum. As Violet continued her work Clementine began unloading the dishwasher and cleaning up the mess left by the cake ingredients. Violet appeared in the kitchen doorway minutes later, Luke still attached to her chest, hands on her hip in victory. "Finished! The house is clean!"

Clementine grinned at her two favorite people. Walking over to the them she grabbed Luke's squishy hands. "Did you help Mommy? Were you a good boy?" Luke laughed and reached for Clementine, who unlatched him from the carrier and brought him into the kitchen, "You deserve a treat for being such a good boy!"

Violet frowned as Clementine grabbed a baby snack from the cabinets and handed it to Luke who accepted it eagerly. "What about me? I did all the work... I don't want to tattle but Luke really didn't help very much." Violet jokingly pouted.

Clementine winked as she walked past Violet, patting her softly on the cheek, "You can have your reward tonight." Violet grinned as she unfastened the baby carrier and grabbed the keys.

"Let's go!"

"Welcome!" Violet cheered as she opened the door to their home. "Oh, it's you." Violet's face fell when she saw Louis at the door, "And Soph!" Violet ducked around Louis to hug Sophie, leaving him fake crying at the door.

"That's fine. I'm fine." Louis pouted as he stomped past with a large wrapped present in his arms, "I'm here for Luke and Clementine, not you. Where's the birthday boy anyway?"

Violet whispered, leaning her head in near Louis and Sophie, "The grandmas are at war, I'd be careful about getting between them if I were you. Presents go in the backyard. Thank goodness it didn't rain, Clem was about to go insane with worry." They both laughed as Louis carried his gift into the backyard. It was overcast outside, but warm.

Clementine was hurrying around the yard, making sure the snack and punch bowls stayed full, bringing out extra chairs and making light conversation with guests. Clementine hugged Louis and Sophie as they walked out of the house.

"I'm so glad you could make it!" She told them.

"I knew you were my favorite!" Louis grinned hugging back.

"You can put the present over there," Clementine waved at a nearby pile of presents, "Please tell me you didn't over do it Lou, he's only one."

"Yeah," Violet said, coming up behind Clementine, wrapping her arms around her waist, "he likes to play with grass and eat dirt, I hope you didn't spend too much."

"No such thing as too much when it comes to my god son." Louis set the gift at his feet and grabbed a cup of punch, offering it to Sophie with a charming smile, she accepted, kissing him on the cheek. Violet made a gagging sound. "Really? That was the smallest pda ever! Look at you two," Louis gestured at Violet as he poured himself some punch. "You're always hanging all over Clem, so clingy!" Violet stepped away from her wife, crossing her arms at Louis.

"I'm not clingy, I'm cute!" Violet argued.

"This is a child's birthday party Vi, how about you show some decency!" Louis argued back. Clementine stared back forth at the two, knowing that they were just getting started.

She grabbed Louis's gift, "I'll just take this to the pile for you Lou," Clementine offered, just trying to get away from their silly argument. She set the gift among the rest and walked over to check on Luke, currently being held by Carley, who was sitting on the ground. Clementine grinned, Luke looked like he just wanted to walk around the yard, but Carley was holding him tight.

"Can I get you a drink or anything Carley? Since you're holding Luke." Clementine offered.

"More like she's holding him hostage." Lee chuckled, Carley glared at him, not finding his joke funny. Clementine tried to hold back her smile as she noticed Luke struggling against Carley's grasp.

"I am not! He wants to be with his CheeChee!" Carley said, hugging Luke tight as he squirmed in her arms, "Don't you Luke?"

Clementine raised an eyebrow, "CheeChee?" she said, trying not to laugh.

Carley set Luke on his feet, looking grumpy as she watched him waddle across the yard, only to be swept up by Violet's mom, who had a plate of snacks ready to feed the boy. "Look what grandma's got for you!" She cheered.

"See, I knew that would happen." Carley whispered angrily as she stood up from the ground.

Lee wrapped his arm around his wife, "Shhh, it's okay, you know Luke loves you. Just because he loves someone else doesn't me he doesn't still love you." Clementine tried to hide her smile as she walked away from the pair.

Louis now had Violet in a headlock, as he casually sipped at his punch. Sophie was now sitting and chatting with Brody and Ruby. Aasim and Marlon were over at the snack table digging in. Clementine sighed, heading over to help her wife when she over heard Sophie's conversation. "She punched her, right in the face!" Clementine held her face in her hands as she diverted her course over to Sophie.

"I'm sorry I punched your sister Sophie... It was pretty immature of me." Clementine looked embarrassed as she spoke, rubbing at her still sore knuckles.

"You punched Minerva?!" Brody yelled with glee.

Ruby chuckled, "Way to go Clem!"

Sophie grinned up at Clementine, "I was talking about the UFC fight last night."

Clementine's face reddened as she backed away from the group, "I-uh, never mind, continue your conversation..."

"Forget the UFC fight, I wanna hear about Clem punching Minerva." Clementine could hear Ruby say as she headed back towards her wife. Louis was now on the ground face first, Violet was sitting on his back, drinking punch with one hand and holding his face down in the grass with the other.

"How's everyone doing? Need me to help with anything?" Violet asked with a smile.

Clementine shook her head, she wanted to get frustrated at her wife's childish antics but she just couldn't. She loved Violet and Louis's sibling like relationship. Was a little jealous of it if she were honest with herself. She loved AJ, but they hadn't lived together long and it was a completely different dynamic. "Actually, could you get Luke from your mom and put him in his high chair, I'm going to bring the cake out."

"I'm on it." Violet swallowed the rest of the punch in one gulp, dropped the cup in front of Louis on the grass and got off his back as he groaned exaggeratedly. Louis hopped off the ground, dusted himself off and went to join Marlon and Aasim as if nothing had happened.

Violet grabbed Clementine's hands and pulled her in close, leaning in to whisper in her ear, "You did a great job planning this for Luke, thank you." and she was off to pry Luke out of her mother's arms.

Clementine smiled at her wife as she walked away, and at her friends and family as she looked around their back yard. They had all come to support Luke, her and Violet's son. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined herself surrounded with so much love, it made her heart swell. She pulled her eyes away from her family and ran into the house to get the platter with the cake on it, carefully she carried it out to the snack table before going back and getting the cupcake for Luke to smash.

Violet had Luke strapped into his high chair in the backyard and was gathering everyone around as Clementine stuck the candle in the cupcake. AJ excitedly stood next to Luke. Violet crouched down next to AJ, "Hey, do you think you can help Luke blow out his candle? I don't think he knows how to do it yet."

"Really?" AJ grinned from ear to ear.

"Yeah, Luke needs his cool uncle AJ to show him how it's done." Violet smiled as AJ did an excited dance next to Luke as Clementine put the lit cupcake on the high chair, just out of Luke's reach. AJ put his arm around Luke in anticipation as Clementine gave Violet the nod to start singing. They all began to sing the happy birthday song to Luke as he looked around confused at all the people singing at him. Clementine, Carley, Violet's mom and Sophie were snapping pictures and taking videos, not missing a second of the special moment. As they got to the end, AJ was vibrating, ready to help Luke, waiting for the song to end, but Louis was holding out the "YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU" as loud and long as he could before Sophie rolled her eyes and smacked him in the stomach. He doubled over, clutching his gut as everyone waited in anticipation for Luke to blow out his candle.

When Luke did nothing AJ looked at Violet for the go ahead, she shot him a thumbs up. A grin spread across his face as he blew out Luke's candle to the raucous applause of everyone in the yard. Violet pulled the candle out of the cupcake and scooted it closer to the boy so that he could reach it. The yard was silent now, everyone waiting in eagerly to see what Luke would do with it. Luke looked at the cupcake questioningly, Clementine tried to make sure that he ate little to no sweets, though Violet was known to sneak him bites of cookies or other treats from time to time but only little bites, nothing like a whole cupcake.

Clementine and Violet had one walked in on Carley feeding droplets of soda by sealing her finger over the top of the straw to create pressure, holding the liquid in and then moving the straw to Luke's mouth, removing her finger and allowing the soda to poor in. Violet had laughed at the face he made, scrunching his face, looking like it burned going down like his first drink of alcohol. Clementine was not amused but was forced to let it slide on account of free babysitting.

Luke stuck one finger in the cupcake, getting some of the white frosting on it, pictures snapped as they all waited to see what he would do. "Eat it!" Louis yelled, breaking the silence, everyone laughed as Luke stuck his finger in his mouth, grinning bright before digging mouth hands into it, cramming it into his mouth.

"That's my boy!" Violet smiled, leaning in to take a selfie with her messy faced son. Clementine reached forward to take the plate away before he could he eat the rest, thinking that he would make himself sick, but his high pitched wail had her placing it back in front of him to the laughter of everyone around. Clementine huffed lightly and began slicing and handing out birthday cake slices to everyone around.

After everyone had finished their cake, and Luke had eaten every sugar crumb off his tray, Violet changed his clothes. Pulling a t-shirt on that had a big number 1 on the front. She patted his full belly as she sat him down in the grass next to his presents.

"Can I help?" AJ asked, running over to sit next to Violet.

"Of course, can you hand Luke a present? Then after he opens it, you can hand him another one?" AJ nodded eagerly.

Violet sat down behind her son, ready to help him as needed. Clementine watched from the back, taking pictures and yelling out thank yous to the guests for the presents. He got clothes from his grandparents, Brody and Marlon got him a toy baseball and bat, Aasim and Ruby got him some books and toy doctor kit, Sophie and Louis got him an child sized easel with a chalkboard side and a dry erase board side and a small child size but very expensive looking piano.

"Lou..." Clementine said, "that's too much!"

"It was either this or I was going to have him a treehouse built, but I thought that might be a better Christmas present." Louis grinned. Clementine and Violet looked at each other worriedly knowing that Louis probably wasn't kidding.

"Thank you everyone!" Violet said, standing up with Luke, only to have Carley take him out of her arms just before Violet's mom could. "Thank you all for the presents and all the love and support you've given us while we've gone through this journey of having kids." Violet put a hand on her stomach, "I'm so grateful my kids will be surround by so much love." A tear formed in her eyes and she wiped it away before it could fall. Clementine had her arms wrapped around Violet before anyone else could get to her but Violet's mom and all their friends weren't far behind to give her their hugs and well wishes.

"Those pregnancy hormones huh?" Sophie said with a grin, nudging Violet with her elbow, gaining an eye roll and a hug in return.

Everyone hung out, talking and eating for a while longer, Lee and Carley stayed after everyone left to help clean up the yard. It was so late by the time they put Luke down to bed, Clementine reluctantly agreed to put him down without his evening bath just this once. The two women collapsed next to each other on the couch. Though they had fun and loved their family, they were happy to be done entertaining and just be able to relax and be nothing but themselves next to one another.

Violet grabbed the remote and clicked it on, "There's a new show on netflix called 'Awesome Sasauge', want to watch it? Might be a cooking show? Even though sausage is spelled wrong..."

Clementine crinkled her nose, "Sounds dirty... let's watch something else."

"There's an action movie called 'I'm Already Widowmaker? How about that?" Violet asked.

"Whatever you want. I'm just going to fall asleep on you anyway." Clementine said as she pulled a blanket out and laid down on Violet's lap, getting comfortable. "I love you Vi, thanks for helping out with the party."

"Don't thank me, it's my duty to help, we're in this together." Violet said, leaning down and kissing Clementine on the cheek. "I love you back."


	12. Ultrasound

Violet laid back on the stiff cushion of the doctor office table, paper sheet crinkling underneath her as she shifted uncomfortably. Clementine stood beside her, leaning her elbows on the table. She eyed her wife's squirming and pressed knowing lips against the blonde girl's temple, "You look so worried, don't be, it's not painful or anything."

"I'm not worried about me." Violet admitted, rubbing her stomach unconsciously. Clementine set her hands on top of the one on Violet's stomach to stop her anxious fidgeting.

"The baby's going to be fine." Clementine said in a soothing voice, pulling Violet's hand up and massaging it between both of her own.

"I know." Violet shrugged, but Clementine could see the worry in her eyes.

"They've tested for all the most common things that could go wrong before they even implanted the egg, the odds are that everything is fine." Clementine continued to rub her hand.

Violet smiled at Clementine, squeezing her hand back, "Thanks Clem, you're right. I'm sure everything's going to be fine. I'm going to crush this." A confidence shown on her face, a confidence that only Clementine seemed to give her.

"Yes you are."

A small knock came in the room and the ultrasound technician walked in with a cheerful smile. She directed her attention at Violet. "Hello Mrs. Everett, how are we doing today?" Her peppy voice made Violet feel nauseated, she glared at the girl, automatically not liking her.

Clementine patted Violet's hand, smiling at the woman, she answered for her wife, "She's crushing it." Violet rolled her eyes at her wife.

"My name is Sarah, I'll be taking some pictures of your baby! I love taking pictures." Violet scowled at the girl, "You can pull your shirt up now." Violet looked offended at the idea, crossing her arms across her chest. Clementine sighed, reaching for the hem of Violet's shirt. As Clementine pushed it up, she could feel the taut, raised surface of Violet's stomach, revealing her very slight baby bump. Clementine's face lit up, pure joy spreading across every feature.

"Violet, our baby's in there..." Clementine said, realization striking her as she reached out, gently placing her hand on Violet's stomach. "Right here!" Clementine's eyes were glistening as she looked up at Violet. "Vi, I didn't know you were showing yet." Clementine grabbed Violet's face in giddy excitement, staring into her eyes, kissing her firmly on the forehead, "This is real. Be happy with me."

"I'm happy." Violet said, unable to hold a smile back at the look on Clementine's face.

"Let's get this started, I'm sorry but this is going to be cold." The technician said as she grabbed a bottle of jelly like fluid and squirted a copious amount on Violet's stomach. She winced as the freezing cold gel touched her skin. Clementine held Violet's hand in anticipation, both girls staring at the empty television screen hanging on the wall in front of them. The technician unhooked the ultrasound tool from the device and slid it around on Violet's lower abdomen.

All that could be seen was blackness on the screen, grey lines appearing and disappearing as the technician moved the device around. Just before frustration could set in, Sarah settled in one spot. "What a clear picture, you have a nice uterus."

Violet and Clementine both scrunched their faces up at the odd compliment, keeping their eyes fixed on the screen. "Why are there two black circles with grey blotches inside them? Clem, didn't you just have one black circle? Is something wrong with the monitor?" Violet asked leaning her head forward, confusion settling on her face as she attempted to make sense of the image. Clementine held Violet's hand tighter.

Sarah grinned cheerily at the couple, "Looks like you're pregnant with twins!"

Violet's head slumped back onto the table, paper crunching at the contact, "t-twins...?" she said, swallowing hard, eyes going vacant, no longer seeing the screen though she continued to gaze in that direction.

"Twins!" Clementine squealed, jumping up and down, clapping her hands slightly. "Vi! Vi?" Clementine looked at Violet's face, wanting her to join in the celebration, but instead of glee she was met with a shocked expression, and a pale face. "Violet? Are you okay?" Clementine moved her face between Violet and the monitor as Sarah continued moving around the device, taking pictures and labeling them using the attached keyboard.

Violet continued to stare through her wife, "Twins?" she repeated in an empty voice.

"Yes, Vi, twins, isn't that great?" Clementine kissed Violet's nose, trying to snap her out of it.

"Great." Violet said, nodding numbly, "Yeah... great..."

"All done!" Sarah announced, using a paper towel to clean the gel off Violet's stomach. Clementine frowned worriedly at her wife as she pulled her shirt down, sitting up on the table. Clementine took the ultrasound pictures that Sarah was waving excitedly at Violet.

"Thank you." Clementine said, annoyance shining through her words as she took Violet in her other hand, leading her wife out of the room.

"You can make your appointment for next month at the desk." Sarah said, waving at the front of the office.

"Yes, thanks." Clementine said, walking away from the girl. At the front desk she quickly scheduled Violet's next appointment for her before taking Violet to their car. She opened the passenger door and Violet got in, even though Violet usually drove when the two were together.

Clementine shut the door, worried for her wife, quickly moving around the car to get in the drivers seat. As soon as she was in the more private space she turned her body to face Violet. "Violet, it's okay to be scared. I know this is a lot to handle, it's not something we were expecting... but it's a good thing... two babies!"

Violet spoke in a stupor, "Two babies crying, two babies to feed, two-" Clementine grabbed Violet's face, pressing her lips firmly on Violet's, stopping her tirade.

"And they'll have two Moms, they'll be the luckiest kids in the world!" Clementine pulled Violet into a hug and held on tight, rubbing her hands up and down her back until Violet slowly leaned into the embrace, reciprocating it. "And you're going t s. You're Victory Violet! You can do anything!"

Violet pulled back from the hug so that she could look into the brunette's eyes, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks Clem, I've got this."

"No, thank you for carrying our bab_ies_!" Clementine squeaked as she emphasized the end of the word, Violet rolled her eyes and smiled at Clementine's excitement. The curly haired girl cranked the car and pulled out of the parking space. Violet raised an eyebrow when Clementine turned left out of the medical complex instead of right.

"Why are we heading towards home? We have to go get Luke from Carley's house." Violet asked.

"Not home, we're going for chicken nuggets and milkshakes first." Clementine said, unable to keep the smile off her face, "The pampering starts now!"

"Maybe this pregnancy thing won't be so bad after all." Violet grinned in the passenger seat, rolling down the window to enjoy the breeze.

Violet leaned over the toilet, Clementine pulled her blonde locks into a hasty pony tail to keep it out of her face.

"This is going to suck so bad." Violet moaned as another wave of nausea hit her. Luke toddled hesitantly into the bathroom, wanting to see what his Moms were doing in there.

"No no Luke," Clementine swooped him up into her arms, "Mommy's not feeling well." Luke cried as Clementine carried him into the living room, setting him inside a baby gated area full of toys. She grabbed a wash clothe, wetting it under the faucet and ringing it out. She crouched down next to Violet, wiping her face with it.

Violet groaned, "I'm never eating chicken nuggets again." She flushed and leaned back against the bathroom wall, no longer feeling the immediate need to vacate her stomach's contents.

Clementine sat next Violet, leaning into shoulder. "I talked to the doctor, she's going to call you in some anti-nausea medication. I'll go pick it up first thing in the morning."

"Thanks." Violet leaned her head onto Clementine's shoulder, Clementine leaned her head on Violet's. Luke could be heard crying for his Moms from the living room. Violet sighed, "You should go get him... I'll be fine."

"You're sure?" Clementine asked, Violet nodded. Clementine stood up, "I'll get you some ginger ale, fruit, and other stuff that I found helpful when I was pregnant when I go to the store too." The brunette added as she left to grab Luke up.

Violet stood slowly, trying not to get up too quickly and trigger her nausea again. She brushed her teeth and trudged out of the bathroom. Clementine walked by carrying Luke. "I'm feeling exhausted, I'm going to lay down." Violet yawned. She walked sluggishly to the bedroom. Eyes drooping, hair falling from her haphazard pony tail in chunks.

"Of course." Clementine kissed her quickly on the head, glancing at her watch that read 6pm. "I'm going to feed and bathe Luke. Call for me if you get hungry or need anything."

"Thanks." Violet pulled her clothes off, not even bothering to put on pajamas, she climbed under the covers in her underwear. Clementine frowned after her, remembering how tired she had been during her first trimester of pregnancy. Her heart swelled at everything Violet was willing to go through to keep her safe, to make her happy.

"Your Mommy is the best." Clementine cooed to Luke as she sat him in his high chair.

"Ma-me-ma-me-ma-me!" Luke chanted, slapping his hands on his tray. It was the first time he had ever said Mommy before, saying Mama was easier for him and he had said it many times but never Mommy, to the disappoint of Violet. Clementine gasped, reaching into her pocket, fumbling for her phone. She quickly held it up taking a video as Luke kept chanting his version of 'Mommy'.

Clementine beamed as she successfully videoed the moment. She couldn't count how many times she had pulled her phone out to tape an adorable moment, only for Luke to immediately stop and stare at her, doing nothing.

"Good boy Lukey, this is going to make Mommy so happy when she get up!" Clementine pocketed her phone and continued prepping Luke's dinner.

After Luke was fed and bathed, Clementine peeked in at Violet, finding her sleeping soundly on the bed. Blankets were askew, the blonde had her arms wrapped around Clementine's pillow, hugging it peacefully.

Seeing that Violet was okay Clementine brushed Luke's two bottom teeth with his tiny baby tooth brush and then took him to his bedroom to rock him. She sang him a lullaby, cradling him in her arms that he was quickly outgrowing. His face snuggled into her chest, closing his eyes as she rocked. Clementine knew she wasn't as good of a singer as Violet was. Her untrained voice shook as she tried to reach the right notes but Luke didn't seem to mind. After the song, Luke was laid in his crib, a light blanket draped over him, a kiss pressed to his head. Clementine closed the door as she left.

Going into her own room she quietly showered, put on her pajamas and despite the early hour she climbed into the bed next to Violet. It had been a long day. The idea of twins was slightly overwhelming. They would need another crib, another car seat, another stroller, so much. Thankfully they had an amazing support group of friends and family. They hadn't told Carley about being pregnant with twins yet. Her and Violet agreed to wait and make sure everything still looked good in a few weeks before surprising everyone.

Clementine gently pried her pillow from Violet's death grip and drifted off to sleep imagining how life with two new members of the family would be. Sweet thoughts soon turned to dark nightmares as the brunette tossed and turned in her sleep.

Clementine was in a hospital bed again. She could feel the stiff mattress beneath her, but she couldn't see it. Her vision was dark but she could hear the screaming beeps of machines all around her. Voices shouted back and forth above her head as she was jostled around. Her throat burned. Pain shot through her arm. Her mind was confusion, the last thing she remembered was her baby crying. It was like music to her ears and then Violet, she had sounded so worried. Her heart ached thinking about Violet. She needed to reassure her, she tried to speak but a mask was forced over her mouth. She felt she was going to lose consciousness, maybe for good this time. Was this what dying felt like? Terror flooded her mind, she didn't want to leave Violet, leave her baby before she even got to hold him and then silence.

Clementine shot up in bed. Beads of sweat glistening on her forehead. Anxiously her eyes shot around the room as she attempted to reorient herself. There was her dresser, that ugly lamp that Carley had given them as a house warming present years ago, her eyes finally landing on Violet, still sleeping peacefully beside her. She sighed, grateful she hadn't disturbed her. Her heart was pounding in her chest, remembering that day in the hospital when Luke was born. She didn't tell Violet how terrifying it had all been for her too. How she had thought she was going to die, never to see her wife or son again.

Violet laid on her back, blanket twisted around her legs, stomach exposed. Clementine smiled at her wife's face for minute, eyes caressing each feature that she had loved for so long before she found herself scooting down until her face was level with Violet's belly. She propped herself up on her elbow, smiling at the bump indicating life growing within.

"Hey in there. This is your Mama." Clementine whispered, not wanting to wake up Violet. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you get here safe okay? I'm going to take care of your Mommy too. We both love you very much and so does your big brother Luke. He's going to love you two so much." Clementine reached up and grabbed her pillow, snuggling into it next to Violet's stomach. "Keep growing in there okay? Get real big and strong." She began humming, the same song Violet had sung to her when she was giving birth to Luke, the same song Violet always sang to Luke as a lullaby. Clementine's heart had resumed it's normal pace, eyelids became heavy and sleep took over her once more.


	13. Cravings

Clementine woke up, glad it had been the weekend because of the delight of sleeping in with the early morning light and birds chirping out of her window as she pulled the covers over her face, enjoying the warmth in her blankets as she smiled. Extending her arm over the covers to wrap it around her wife, to bring her into the cuddles as well. Only to feel the mattress beside her, emptiness as she opened her eyes to see Violet wasn't there. Only Clementine's arm slightly patting where she was supposed to be.

"Vi...?" she whispered, slowly sitting up on the bed as she rubbed her eyes. It was silent, their door was closed. All was surprisingly silent as the brunette even made a quick glance to their bathroom, making sure Violet wasn't having any morning sickness. Seeing as she wasn't there, Clementine threw over a baggy long sleeve, stretching as she did so while she reluctantly moved from the comfort of her bed. Heading over as she slowly opened her door, mainly trying to look for Luke, as he would've definitely been crying by now due to his new teething habits, all for Clementine to take care of as Violet -now pregnant with twins, had enough to take care of for the both of them.

She headed forward towards the kitchen, hearing rummaging through what must have been the fridge as she glanced over, seeing Violet on her toes reaching deep into it for something as she silently swore under her breath. Clementine smirking as she walked towards her.

"Having some trouble are we?" She giggled, wrapping her arms around Violet softly, feeling the slightest bump in her stomach as her wife froze, reddening in embarrassment.

"I uh-no. It's fine. But how are you? I um...I know you had a nightmare, I was just so tired to say anything...I'm sorry" Violet frowned, looking down as she faced Clementine, who nodded in response. She didn't want Vi to worry about her, though she knew she always would -especially with her emotions running high like this.

"It's okay. I talked to our twins right in here and I felt a lot better." She grinned, trying to change the topic as she crouched down by Violet's stomach, speaking softly to their children inside.

"Hey there you two. You better not be fighting or kicking each other in there, your mom has enough to deal with okay? I know you'll be absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to fully meet you but I already love you two so much." She smiled, unable to keep it away as Violet chuckled, wiping away a tear she didn't even know she'd let fall. Clementine slowly standing up as she cupped the blonde's face in her hands, rubbing away the tears as she kissed her forehead.

"See? It's fine. I'm fine and you-" Clementine paused as she looked at the counter, not even knowing how to compute the situation. Violet almost hiding her face in her hands while it became red again.

"Vi? What...what is this?" Clementine was nearly giggling as she looked at the food Violet had out. Mainly the yogurt and flamin' hot Cheetos displayed next to them.

Violet stood in front of it, almost defensively as she put her arms up. "Just wait, wait. Hear me out okay?"

Clementine was holding back a laugh, especially doing so as Luke moved towards them, observing the two in curiosity. The brunette placing her hands on her hips in anticipation of what exactly Violet was doing. She technically knew, having gone through pregnancy cravings herself, but she wanted to see how the blonde would explain them.

"I...The tangy taste it gives me and everything is _really_ good and I know- I know that we both want our kids to have a good palette of food so I'm combining really weird foods because why not?" Violet stated boldly, dipping one of the Cheetos in the yogurt and stuffing it into her mouth as Clementine just stared at her, half confused and half astonished she was doing this in the first place.

"I-I...that was the weirdest explanation I could have possibly been given for hot Cheetos and yogurt mixture. Have you craved anything else? You could've woken me up and I would've grabbed it for you."

Violet shrugged again. "Nothing else...yet. Plus you were sleeping like a baby and my motherly instincts kicked in to not wake you up. Also because of your nightmare...and my embarrassment."

Clementine could only smile again as she watched Violet eat the strange combination, Luke propping himself up onto the seat as he tried to reach for them as well, only for Violet to slightly move it away.

"Sorry Luke, this is mine, you wouldn't like it anyway." She grinned, taking another mouthful of the food while Luke began to pout, Clementine quickly picking him up into her arms and held him close.

"See Vi, your cravings are causing Luke to cry!" She joked, having to turn away from her wife who only grabbed her shoulder into a hug.

"I'm sorry! But you're not leaving me or I'll probably end up crying because my emotions are running very high right now." She grinned, holding Clementine closer as Luke giggled in her arms, cuddling up against the brunette who stuck her tongue out at him to get more laughter out.

"True, but your little craving to help our two children in there might not be for the best. Especially if Luke gets another need to have some more." She chuckled, Violet sighing as she placed it down, slowly getting up as she moved towards the couch. Secretly wanting to solve more of her cravings while Clementine held Luke in her arms.

It only made the brunette wonder what else she'd been eating, and how secretive she could possibly get about it as time went on. Sure, Clementine had them to begin with. But definitely not something as strange as what Violet was eating, hers was usually a collection of sweet and sour things to combat each other in conflicting tastes. Nothing like the apparent 'tangy' taste Violet got from yogurt and spicy Cheetos. She could only imagine what else her wife would have in order to 'improve their twins' palettes'. Still knowing Violet could've been embarrassed by it all.

"It's nothing to get worked up about, it's normal to get cravings." She sat down next to Violet, who was holding a pillow close to her chest, slowly meeting eyes with the brunette as she let out a small smile. Still a little embarrassed at it all, and her failure of an explanation.

Clementine noticed the look on Violet's face as she set Luke down, scooting over to her wife as she let her lean on her shoulder, pulling something out of her hoodie pocket. It was the ultrasound scan, Clementine smiling as she brushed her finger over the small black dots within it, feeling her wife lean over to look at it too.

"These two little angels in here -granted they don't brawl inside you, are probably enjoying that very strange meal you gave them. They'll probably love any bit of food they eat, not being picky but open to try a lot of different meals..."

"Especially chicken nuggets!" Violet chuckled, holding her stomach as an instinct as she felt around it.

"Wait... didn't you just say that you would, 'never eat another chicken nugget again'?" Clementine mocked with a giggle.

"I... um... I lied?" Violet grinned cheesily at her wife, listening as Clementine shook her head in amusement before speaking softly once more.

"These two, and you, and Luke, I will always protect. I swear to you. After my...my nightmare, I will _always_ do that for you, for our family. I don't really know them yet, but like I said earlier I love them with all my heart and I will make sure nothing happens to them or you. So you won't have to go through what I did. I promise."

Violet nodded, wrapping her arms around Clementine as she still stared at the ultrasound, slightly tensed. The blonde doing the only thing she knew what would make her feel better as she moved Clementine's hand over her stomach, holding it there as she saw a smile break out from her face.

"They know, Clem. Those tiny little babies in there know you're out here, protecting them. They know I'm eating really weird foods, that their big brother will protect them too...even if he teases them. They know I love you, so much." Violet grinned, looking back towards the 'snack' she'd left out on the counter. Slightly in embarrassment, and there other half wanting to indulge herself in some more. Almost as if she could hear the twins inside her practically telling her to get up, but Clementine's arms wrapped around her and her stomach kept her down, still enjoying it since she didn't get to cuddle up in the early morning, or enjoy the ultrasound picture more and more. Just imagining running out into the backyard with three bundles of joy sprinting around them all, with whatever their twins would turn out to be. Maybe having blonde hair as well, or having Clementine's curly brown hair with any eye color Violet could think of. Sure the time was a little early to be fully thinking about it, but it was something she couldn't wait for.

As if Clementine could be reading her mind, the brunette kissed the blonde of the cheek as she stood up. "Thinking about the future?"

"Yeah, it'll be crazy. But our kind of crazy."

Clementine giggled, holding Luke's hand as she went back over to the kitchen to grab something as Violet kept glancing back towards the picture. She knew Clementine couldn't wait to tell everyone -especially Carley, they were going to have twins. But keeping it under wraps was also a ton of fun for the two to do so as well. Possibly planning a big surprise way to tell their family and friends, awaiting the excitement and joy on all their faces.

She kept looking, staring before she felt a slight tap on her head, glancing up as Clementine held out her strange snack out to her, grinning along with Luke's giggles. Waiting for Violet to take them as she spoke up.

"Come on, I know you want to keep eating it. I am not letting our twins be picky eaters. They will not be only eating chicken nuggets for their lives."

Violet rolled her eyes as she took them, quickly eating them as Clementine watched in amusement, not knowing how in the world it was even good in the first place. But just watching how Violet ate them in joy like she would to chicken nuggets from a fast food place brought the biggest smile to her face, glad that _this_ was what she woke up to.

Violet could feel Clem staring at her as she took another, holding it out to the brunette who rose an eyebrow, Luke reaching for it for a quick moment.

"Nuh uh, Luke...this is uh- _grown up_ food." She lied, watching as her wife held back a laugh and reluctantly took it from her hand. Glancing it over with confusion and slight disgust.

"How is this good?" She asked, still not wanting to take a bite as Violet practically had a mouthful.

"I told you, its the tangy taste it has! It makes it waaaay better. Though I would not eat this if it weren't for the pregnancy craving. You don't have to try it but knowing your curiosity you will."

Clementine nodded, reluctantly taking a bite as she scrunched up her face, slightly laughing at it before finishing it. Letting out a small cough as she slightly tilted her head, only more confused now.

"I get why you like it, and why you're craving it but...there are so many other ways to get this tangy taste you want. You know that right?"

Violet shrugged. Taking more bites before Clementine quite literally lifted her up on her feet, grabbing Luke's hand once again.

"I will even show you. My treat for breakfast, Violet. I told you you're gonna be pampered, so what do you say?" She was fully grinning now, the blonde unable to deny her because off her instincts and emotions fully kicking in as she looked to them both.

"Fine...fine. Plus, other than my really weird food cravings and morning sickness, this pregnancy thing is only getting better and better with you, Clem."

The brunette nodded in success, walking outside as the two swung Luke back and forth while they were both holding onto him. Walking off to their car as Clementine was determined to help solve Violet's cravings -the least she could do in the early morning as she vowed to protect her and her children, the one currently there in his pajamas, and the two little ones on the way.

A/N: This chapter was written by guest author agarserv and she did an amazing job! I loved every bit of it. We got the idea to write each other's stories from a couple other authors here on wattpad. She wrote a chapter of 'Moms' for me and I wrote a chapter of 'Shut It' for her. Writing mute Clem has been something I've wanted to do for a long time, so I appreciate her giving me the opportunity to write in her universe. If you want to read the chapter I wrote, head on over, it's chapter 40, but do yourself a favor and read the whole thing because it's awesome. Thanks!


	14. Moms' Day

**A/N: I wrote this for Mother's day on Wattpad but just got to posting it here. It's an extra long chapter!**

Violet's watch vibrated, her silent alarm successfully arousing her from sleep. She hit the button and rolled over, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Pregnancy had hit her and hard. Morning sickness was a lie. It should be called all-freaking-day sickness she discovered. Sometimes the only food she could keep down were her odd cravings. Exhaustion followed her around like a cloud, never feeling fully alert. Dizzy spells struck at the most inconvenient times, causing her to awkwardly grab onto random coworkers for balance before apologizing profusely. No, Violet was not a fan of being pregnant but a smile lit her face as she felt a tiny fluttering in her abdomen. An almost unnoticeable sensation that told her she wasn't alone, that two lives were growing inside her and she loved them more than she could express.

And Clementine through all of this? She was a saint. When Violet came home from work complaining of being tired, Clementine dragged her to the couch and tucked her in with a blanket. When Violet mentioned wanting ice cream in the middle of the night, Clementine would get up and immediately go to the store to get her some. And when Violet spread that ice cream on a slice of warm toast, Clementine only smiled. When the smell of Luke's dirty diapers sent Violet gagging from the room, Clementine declared that she would change every diaper until her sick spells ended.

Violet couldn't imagine having a more loving, selfless wife. She was determined to show her how much she meant to her, today was Mother's day and Violet intended to treat Clementine like a queen. First up, breakfast. Violet frowned as the smell of something cooking wafted into their room. She looked over at Clementine's spot on the bed for confirmation. It was empty. Violet swore to herself, Clementine had beat her to breakfast even with an alarm set.

Heading down the hall, still in her pajamas she glared at her wife who was hurrying around the kitchen. Luke, who was sitting in his high chair, gave a cry of delight when he saw Violet in the doorway. Clementine turned and grinned at Violet's still glaring face, "Happy Mother's day Mommy!" She set down her spatula and enveloped Violet in a hug, kissing her on the cheek, "Good morning to you," she crouched down, lifting Violet's tank top she kissed her stomach, "and good morning to you two."

Violet continued to glare, "You beat me to breakfast. _I_ wanted to make _you_ breakfast." Clementine put her hands on Violet's waist and started rocking slowly to her own rhythm.

"It's not a competition. Dance with me."

Violet rolled her eyes but draped her arms around Clementine's shoulders, synchronizing with her swaying and adding a rotation. Clementine closed the gap, resting her head on Violet's shoulder as they continued their dance.

"I love you." Clementine sighed into Violet's neck.

"I love you too." Violet snuggled her cheek against Clementine's hair, inhaling deeply. "You used my shampoo."

"Mmhmmm," Clementine answered, closing her eyes, her hands finding their way to Violet's stomach, "I ran out of mine."

"You think we're ready for this?" Violet asked, referring to the future additions to their family.

"I don't know if you can ever really be ready for something like this..." Clementine's breath tickled Violet's neck as she spoke, "We weren't ready for Luke and now I can't imagine life without him. All I know is that I'm excited and happy and I can't wait to meet them."

"Yeah..." Violet pressed her lips against Clementine's head, holding her just a little bit tighter, "When should we tell everyone? People are going to start noticing soon. Sophie's the only one who even knows I'm pregnant."

"In a week or two?" Clementine moved her head back so that she could see Violet's face, "I want it to be ours for just a little bit longer before we have to share it with everyone else..."

"Okay," Violet took Clementine's hands into her own, releasing one as she twirled her around then pulled her close and dipped her back slightly. She pressed her lips to Clementine's before standing them both up straight once more.

"You've still got it Ms. Everett." Clementine pulled her in for another kiss as a timer started to beep, Clementine jumped at the sound, hurrying to pull the biscuits from the oven before they had a chance to burn

They all sat down to a breakfast of chicken biscuits, hashbrowns and eggs. "You've outdone yourself Clem... I was just going to make you pancakes..." Violet said, glaring at her wife again, smelling the food before taking a tentative bite, waiting to make sure she didn't get a wave of nausea. When she didn't she smiled and went to the refrigerator.

"Did I forget something?" Clementine asked with a smile as she cut the scrambled eggs into bite sized pieces for Luke. She knew her wife was going to get a sauce of some sort to put on her food, it was a common practice even before she was pregnant, only amplified now.

"No, just getting some barbecue and ranch." Violet said as she pulled them out of the side door and brought them to the table.

"I thought you usually liked ketchup for this kind of food?" Clementine asked, eyes wide but not saying anything as Violet covered everything on her plate in the sauces.

"I'm just really loving the flavor combination of ranch and barbecue right now." Violet shoveled a fork full in her mouth. Clementine took a bite to hide her smile, not wanting to embarrass her wife.

As they finished eating, Clementine began clearing the table, "Clem, please! Let me do something." Violet stood, trying to take a dish from Clementine's hand but she moved it away.

"You're _pregnant_, with _twins_, let me take care of you!" Clementine continued cleaning up as Violet grabbed Luke from his high chair, cleaning his hands and face with his bib before standing.

"You _were_ pregnant, with _this_ guy," Violet held Luke up in front of Clementine's face, "and he was no tiny baby..." Violet tickled the boys belly, making him laugh, "Who was a big boy? Who was a big boy?" Violet turned Luke to face her, pressing her lips on Luke's stomach and blowing, he shrieked with glee. Clementine smiled at the scene as she washed a pan in the sink. "You deserve to celebrate today as much as I do. It's both our first real Mother's Day." Violet said looking over at her wife.

"Luke got you something." Clementine suddenly remembered as she dried her hands off on a kitchen towel and grabbed Violet's hand.

"_Clem_!" Violet whined, "You said no gifts."

"I told _you_ not to get _me_ a gift, I never said Luke wasn't going to get you anything." Clementine said as she pulled a frowning Violet to the front door. Clementine opened it and led Violet out, Luke on her hip as Clementine waved her arm at the side of driveway.

Violet laughed when she saw it, "A basketball goal? When did you do this?"

"Lee came over last night after you and Luke went to bed and helped me put it together. I know you might not feel like playing any time soon, but it's something you can play with the kids as they grow up. I remembered you said you always wanted one when you were a kid." Violet wrapped her arm around Clementine, kissing her on the lips. Luke grinned from Violet's arms, grabbing at their faces.

"Thank you... both." Violet turned and kissed Luke on the cheek. Luke grabbed Violet by the sides of her face and moved in for a kiss of his own, mouth open and drooly. Violet turned her cheek to him as he approached, accepting the wet kiss and ran with him to pick up the basketball. She dribbled the ball with one hand, holding Luke with the other, he squirmed to get a hold of it. She put it in his hands, he grinned, two teeth shining and dropped it on the ground where it bounced back up to them. He laughed as Violet caught it and set him on the ground before bouncing it over his head.

"Vi! Be careful!" Clementine winced as she watched them.

"What are you going to do about it?" Violet challenged. "Are you going to stop me?" She dribbled the ball away from Luke who followed it with his eyes.

Clementine raised her eyebrows, "Is that a challenge?" She stepped towards Violet sizing her up with her eyes, circling around her as Luke got bored of staring at his Moms and went to play with his toys in the grass.

"So what if it is?" Violet stood as straight as she could, trying to look imposing.

"Challenge accepted, maybe we can make this a little more interesting." Clementine stopped in front of Violet, taking the basketball from her hands, spinning it effortlessly on her finger tip.

"Okay..." Violet looked curiously at her wife, wondering what she was getting at, briefly looking to the side to make sure Luke was fine before looking back at Clementine.

"Let's see..." Clementine looked her wife up and down. "If I make a shot first, you give me a thirty minute massage tonight and if you make a shot first I'll give you-"

Violet interrupted, raising her eyebrows suggestively, "a thirty minute f-"

"Violet!" Clementine chastised, face burning, she pushed Violet lightly to stop her from continuing, glancing over at Luke who was climbing on his ride on toy not paying attention. "He's listening, don't use that word." The blonde laughed so hard she snorted, which immediately stopped the brunette's berating and sent her into a fit of giggles. Violet took her opportunity to snatch the basketball from Clementine's hands, she dribbled closer to the goal. As she started to shoot Clementine grabbed Violet's arm, making her drop the ball.

"Hey! I didn't know we were playing prison rules." Violet complained as Clementine got the ball and dribbled away grinning daringly at her wife. Violet and Clementine had a stare off with one another, standing a couple of feet apart, eyes locked. Violet was waiting to see which way Clementine was going to go as the ball continued to hit the pavement every few seconds with a rubbery thud. Violet could tell Clementine was smiling just by the playful glint in her eyes, she didn't even need to look down to her wife's soft pink lips to see that. If Clementine was trying to distract her, it was working. After all their years together Violet could still get lost in those amber eyes. It was nice to see Clementine relax too. Ever since Luke was born Clementine had changed, they both had honestly. Being responsible for someone else's life will do that to a person, but deep down they were the same girls they had been when they had first met. Even if it took more enticing to get them out then it used to.

Clementine smirked, noticing the lost in thought expression on Violet's face and attempted to dart around the blonde. Violet snapped out of her trance fast and stuck out an arm, catching Clementine's waist as she attempted to pass, holding her back as the ball kept bouncing toward the grass.

"Cheater!" Clementine yelled through her laughter, as Violet pulled her closer, wrapping both arms around her middle, "I married a cheater!" Clementine squirmed half heartedly against Violet's grasp.

Violet rolled her eyes as she watched the ball bounce into the grass, Luke walked to it eagerly, he picked it up, swaying on the spot before falling on his bottom, still clutching the ball.

"Luke's on my team!" Clementine called out, tickling Violet just long enough to loosen her grip and get free. "Give the ball to Mama Luke, pass it to Mama." Clementine held her hands out, trying to convince the boy to roll her the ball.

"He's not on your team, us blondes have to stick together!" Violet approached Luke, hands out as well, both girls vied for the boys attention.

"That's not fair, you have the twins on your team! I'm out numbered."

"Yes, two fetuses are on my team." Violet said sarcastically, "If anything I have the disadvantage, Luke should be on my team." He looked back and forth between his Moms as they argued jokingly, not quite sure what was going on but loving the attention. He laughed as he picked up the ball that was almost as big as he was and threw it as hard as he could. Which meant it lazily bounced off the grass and began rolling on the driveway directly between the two girls. They both lunged for it but Clementine got there first.

She picked up the ball and got ready to shoot, but Violet was prepared. She already stood in front of Clementine, hands in the air, the couple inches extra in height giving her the advantage as she guarded the brunette. "Why aren't you shooting?" Violet teased.

Clementine looked past Violet's shoulder, face suddenly worried, "Luke! Watch out!" Violet's head jerked in Luke's direction, her body already taking steps towards the boy, only to find him sitting perfectly safe and happy in his toy car. When Violet heard the thump of the basketball against the backboard and the swish of the net, she knew she had been duped.

Clementine jumped around shouting, "Clem-en-tine! Clem-en-tine! Wooooooo! The crowd goes wild!" Violet's heart fluttered at the sight of her wife, it was an impossible task to keep the disgruntled look on her face at the brunette's dirty trick. Violet loved seeing her fun, competitive side, just realizing that it hadn't come out in far too long.

"Alright, alright," Violet crossed her arms and tried not to grin, "Enough gloating, you win, you'll get your massage."

Clementine beamed as she wrapped her arms around Violet, pecking her on the lips, "Play your cards right and maybe you'll get your reward too." Violet's eyes traced Clementine's features, she was glowing from her victory, though it was sneakily won. Violet didn't know how she had gotten so lucky.

"Oh yeah?" Violet could hardly stand the distance between them anymore as she gripped Clementine's shirt, pulling their bodies flush and kissing her deeply. The two of them, standing on the driveway, still wearing their pajamas, caught up in one another. No, it wasn't the same as when they were kids, the novelty had worn off a long time ago. There first kiss was awkward and sweet. It sent red to their cheeks and shivers down their spines as their hearts raced with excitement. But their desire had only grown through the years and with time came proficiency. They knew each other, knew the exact way to get the others heart pumping, knew how to make them tingly from the inside out.

A tugging at their pant legs brought them back to reality, Luke had a fistful of each girls pj pant and was pulling at it frowning up at them, yelling his nonsensical words.

Violet grinned as she scooped him up. "Somebody's jealous." she said, the two girls smooshed him between themselves in a hug, both pressing their lips against one of his squishy cheeks at the same time making him squeal in glee. "Mmmm, a Luke sandwich, it's my favorite!" Violet smothered the boys face in kisses as he grabbed at her mouth in an attempt to stop the barrage.

Clementine smiled at the two loves of her life, four if you included the twins, which she already did. She put on a pout and leaned forward, pointing at her own lips.

"Now Mama's jealous!" Violet leaned forward to give Clementine a quick kiss, only for Luke to reach out and push Clementine's face away before they could make contact.

"Rejected!" Clementine lamented dramatically as Luke gave Violet a wet kiss that looked more like he was trying to bite her cheek than anything else.

"Can Mama have one too?" Clementine pointed at her cheek, leaning it towards her son but he only pushed her head away again.

"Luke, it's Mother's day, give Mama a kiss!" Violet encouraged, but he only gave Violet another. Clementine pouted for real this time as she glanced at her watch.

"We need to start getting ready, we have to meet Carley and Marissa for lunch."

"Why are we doing Mother's day lunch with Carley and my mom at the same time? You know how they are with Luke, they'll just be squabbling over him the whole time." Violet said as they all headed back into the house to get ready, not at all looking forward to this luncheon.

"Do you want to have two separate Mother's day meals? Or do you want to have one lunch, come back home and lay around watching movies the rest of the day just the three of us?" Clementine asked, closing the door behind them.

"I'm sorry I doubted you." Violet grinned as she set Luke down on the floor and went to the bedroom to get dressed.

"Happy Mother's day!" Clementine hugged Carley in front of the small cafe, Luke practically leaped from Clementine's arms as they hugged. Carley grabbed him into her arms. Violet checked in with the host, telling them about their reservation before joining the group off to the side.

"Thank you Clem, happy Mother's day to you too and you as well Violet!" Carley pressed a quick kiss to Clementine's and Violet's cheeks.

"Thank you Carley, you too. Have you seen my mom?" Violet asked, just as she caught sight of her mom running through the parking lot, a clear look of disappointment on her face when she noticed Luke already in Carley's arms.

"For you Carley." Clementine reached into her bag and pulled out a box of praline's and chocolate turtles.

"You girls are too much, thank you!" Carley looked at the box with Luke, "Oooh, these are the good ones too." She sat down on a bench outside of the cafe, opened the box and began sharing a praline with Luke. Clementine sighed, she should have known that would happen.

Violet looked at her mom, feeling guilty for not having gotten anything for her, "Sorry Mom I di-" Violet felt something being stuck into her hand from behind, she grabbed onto the object that felt like a box and moved her hand out in front of her, she held what she now saw was a box of chocolates out to her mom. "I-uh didn't know what you liked, hope this is alright."

"Truffles are my favorite!" Marissa hugged her daughter, "Thank you Vi."

"Everett party of 5!" The host called out, Violet smiled gratefully at Clementine as they headed towards the door, taking her hand and squeezing it as they walked.

They all sat down at a circular table. Luke was in a high chair with a grandma on each side of him, fighting for his attention. Violet was next to her Mom and Clementine by Carley. They looked at their menus, Violet grumbled as she looked over the food options. Salads, soups, gluten free wraps with cilantro. The look of disgust on Violet's face made Clementine chuckle to herself, she took Violet's hand under the table in support.

When the waitress arrived they all ordered their food and she hurried away to put the order in.

Marissa looked over at Violet and Clementine, "Now, I don't want to be that ignorant old lady but... How do you celebrate Mother's day when you have two Mothers... Normally a Father would do nice things for the Mother and then on Father's Day the Mother does nice things for the Father."

Violet got a little flustered at her words, "Like Dad ever did nice things for you on Mother's day..." Marissa looked affronted.

"Your Dad was not the best example of a Father Vi and I didn't mean to be offensive. I'm just curious. Will one of you celebrate on Father's day so you can have your own day?" Marissa asked.

"We're not men Mom, why would we celebrate on Father's day?" Violet was starting to get heated. Carley's eyes widened, she glanced at Clementine, seeing the girl had it under control she chose to focus her attention on Luke unless needed.

Clementine gently rubbed her thumb over Violet's hand, speaking up before Violet could say something she would regret later, "This is our first real Mother's day. Last year I had just gotten out of the hospital. We didn't even remember when it was until it was past. So we're still new to it ourselves but we're just trying to celebrate each other. We both fulfill Luke's needs in our own way and I think we're just both trying our best to show how much we appreciate that to one another."

"You've done so much for me today," Violet frowned at Clementine, "I'm sorry I haven't done more for you."

Clementine smiled softly at her wife, "Violet, you do so much for me, _every_ single day. You make my lunches for work, you get up with Luke on the weekends and spend the morning with him watching cartoons, you rub my shoulders after a long day at work without me having to ask you. You do nice things for me all the time. The least I can do is give you one day... you deserve so much more." Violet pulled Clementine into a tight embrace. Marissa and Carley dabbed at their eyes with a napkin.

"You two are so precious." Carley said, wiping the tears from her eyes, "Don't get me wrong... I love Lee with all my heart, but you two... you have something special."

"I know." Violet moved back to her seat only to have her Mom pull her into a hug, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry Vi, I love you." Marissa said

"I love you too Mom." Violet hugged her back.

When the food arrived, Violet scrunched her nose up as her turkey wrap was set down in front of her, the smell of the cilantro already making her feel nauseated, "Excuse me, do you have any barbecue and ranch?"

"I'm sorry, we don't have any... _barbecue_... but we do have a fat free lite ranch dressing if you'd like me to get you some?" The waitress said, trying to smile.

"No... that's okay... thanks." Violet hung her head, staring sullenly at her food.

"Are you feeling alright Vi? Not hungry?" Marissa asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Violet's head snapped up, remembering that no one but Sophie knew she was pregnant yet. "Oh, um, no, I was just thinking about something, I'm good." Violet picked up her wrap and took a bite to prove that she was fine. Marissa seemed to be appeased by the answer and turned her attention back to Luke.

Violet gagged slightly as she chewed the smell of the cilantro alone sent her stomach reeling but the taste was too much. Clementine looked at Violet nervously, picking at the salad in front of her. Fortunately for them the grandmas were too busy taking turns shoving fork fulls into Luke's mouth to notice.

Violet stood suddenly from the table. "I need to use the restroom." She rushed off without waiting for a response and Clementine was quick to follow.

"Me too, drank too much water I guess, could you two watch Luke for a minute?" Carley and Marissa nodded and as soon as Clementine walked away, they gave each other a knowing look.

Carley watched the girls until they had both disappeared into the restroom, "Pregnant?" she asked.

"Pregnant." Marissa agreed.

When Clementine and Violet came back, Violet's hair was pulled up into a short pony tail. Clementine flagged down the waitress and ordered a ginger ale. Marissa and Carley continued to smile at one another as they noticed Clementine massaging Violet's hand. The brunette attempted to keep up conversation but was sending her blonde haired wife worried eyes throughout the rest of the meal as both their food sat unfinished.

"I'm so sorry," Clementine said for the hundredth time as they walked back into the house, she was carrying a sleeping Luke in her arms, he had passed out on the car ride home, ready for his afternoon nap.

"Clem, it's fine, I'm fine." Violet reassured, "It's not your fault that I'm pregnant... well... sort of, but I'm glad that I am. It's okay."

Clementine walked to Luke's bedroom, laying him down gently, pulling a blanket over him and kissing his head. She closed the door behind her as she left.

"I should have picked a different restaurant," Clementine looked worried as she walked into the living room. "Do you think they know, they know right?"

Violet smiled, wrapping her arms around Clementine, "Oh, they know." Violet laughed, remembering the looks she kept getting from the two older women after they returned from the bathroom. "You probably shouldn't have followed me into the bathroom..."

"I couldn't just let you go throw up in a restaurant bathroom by yourself!" Clementine leaned into Violet's shoulder.

"Thank you for coming with me." Violet kissed the brunette's head. "It's fine, we're going to tell them soon anyway. The twins part will still be a big surprise. Come on." Violet led Clementine to the couch, sinking down and pulling her wife with her.

Violet clicked on the first movie she saw. Clementine laid down, Violet laid in front of her. Violet's pony tail tickling Clementine's cheek. She reached up and pulled it down, stroking the blonde locks for a minute before sliding her hand down and resting it on Violet's stomach, slipping it underneath her shirt so she could caress her baby bump. Violet smiled, placing her hand over Clementine's as they fell asleep together, both exhausted.

Violet woke first to the sound of Luke's cheerful babbling. She attempted to extricate herself out of Clementine's grasp without rousing her so she could retrieve him from his crib. No luck as Clementine's arms tightened around her, "Don't leave me..." she whispered into the back of her head sleepily. Violet chuckled.

"I have to get Luke, plus we should get up. It's almost four." Violet said.

Clementine sat up quickly, "Almost four?" She looked at her phone for confirmation as Violet got Luke out of his crib, bringing him back into the living room.

"How are you feeling?" Clementine asked worriedly.

"Better... And hungry..." Violet answered.

"Perfect," Clementine smiled.

"What do you mean perfect?" Violet asked as the doorbell rang. Clementine took Luke from her arms.

"Go get it, it's for you." Clementine smiled and moved out of Violet's way.

Violet gave Clementine a wary look as she opened the door, Louis stood in front of her, a large party tray full of chicken nuggets in his arms.

"Seriously?" Violet's eyes widened as she eagerly took the tray from his arms and set it down on the kitchen table, opening it immediately and popping them in her mouth. "Thanks Louis!" she said, mouth full of half chewed chicken.

"Don't thank me, Clem gave me the money and asked me to do it last week. I'm just the delivery man." Louis grinned as Clementine gave him a one armed hug. "Annnd the babysitter!" He grabbed Luke from her arms. "Me and this dude are going to spend some quality time at the park and then we're going out for ice cream."

"You are?" Violet asked confused.

"We are." Louis held up Luke, "Say goodbye to your Mommies!"

"Byebyebyebye" Luke chanted, excited to be with his godfather.

"Do you still have his car seat in your car?" Clementine asked.

"Of course, I'm ready anytime you need me." Louis smiled, reaching for the diaper bag, slinging it on his free shoulder. "I have to be prepared for when I have my own kids one day."

"You'll be a great dad, thank you for doing this Louis." Clementine hugged him again, kissing Luke on the cheek. She grinned like a maniac when Luke kissed her back, not even bothering to wipe away the wet spot he left behind.

Violet stood up and hugged them as well, kissing her son, leaving a greasy smudge on his cheek. "Be careful Louis."

"I will!" Louis assured.

"I'm serious." Violet gave him a stern look.

"I know!" Louis laughed, "I don't take much seriously, but I promise you. Keeping Luke safe will be my top priority. I'll be back in two hours." Louis waved and carried Luke out to his car.

"You trust him with Luke now?" Violet asked hesitantly, closing the door and locking it.

"I do." Clementine smiled as she walked towards the hallway. "He's proved himself."

"What is he babysitting for? What do you have planned?" Violet's eyes scanned over her wife as she walked out of the living room.

Clementine stopped and looked at Violet, "I don't know... I thought we'd start with that massage you owe me and then... we'll just see where things go..." Violet threw one more nugget in her mouth before closing the tray and sticking it in the fridge.

She followed Clementine into the bedroom, "Sounds like a perfect end to a perfect Mother's day to me." 


	15. Reveal

"I'm leaving." Violet pulled out a duffel bag and started shoving clothes inside. "I can't live like this anymore."

Clementine sat up groggily in the bed, "What's going on Vi?"

"After what you did to me you deserve worse." Violet seethed.

"V-Violet... what did I do? What's going on?" Clementine jumped out of bed, stumbling over to her wife, still confused from having just woken up. She reached out to her but Violet pushed her hand away.

"You _know_ what you did." Violet zipped her bag and left the room.

Clementine stumbled after her, confusion ripping her from the inside, tears began streaming down her face, "Wait Vi, please, please tell what I did, I'll do anything to make it right, anything." She felt like she was trapped in a bad dream but the pain in her foot as she smashed it into the door jam told her it wasn't.

Violet walked to the fridge and opened it up, pointing inside with an angry finger, "What does this look like to you?"

"A-A p-pizza box..." Clementine said, looking into the fridge, tears now spilling down in torrents.

"Open it." Violet crossed her arms over her chest. Clementine reached in shakily, the box was lighter than it should have been, she pulled it out and opened it up. "What's inside?" Violet asked.

"Nothing?" Clementine answered, looking into the empty box.

"Exactly! Nothing!" Violet fumed, "Why is there an empty pizza box in the fridge?! It gives false hope, I can't live in a house where empty pizza boxes are teasingly placed in the refrigerator."

Clementine's eyes widened, "You woke me up at two in the morning for that? Vi... it was an accident! Luke had me distracted, I was trying to eat while I fed him and do the dishes at the same time..." Anger flared up inside her, "You made me think... I thought... you scared me to death Violet! If you weren't pregnant with my precious babies I think I would hit you right now. I'm going back to bed."

"False hope is the ultimate betrayal in a marriage. I'm going to stay the night with my Mother." Violet said feeling vindicated.

"Tell her I said hello." Clementine waved her off as she went back into the room, collapsing exhausted on the bed. Violet joined her a few minutes later, she wrapped her arm around Clementine's middle and snuggled her face into Clementine's brunette locks.

"Nuh uh" Clementine attempted to shrug her off, "I'm mad at you."

"_You're _mad at _me_?" Violet said bewildered, "_You're_ the one who ate the last of the pizza and put the empty box back in the refrigerator."

"And you woke me up in the middle of the night, acted like you were leaving me and-" Clementine rolled over to face Violet pouting, "and I jammed my toes hard, and it really really hurts."

Violet snuggled closer to her wife, "I'm sorry, I was just so hungry and I saw the pizza box and I got so excited thinking that you saved it for me when you could have eaten it yourself and then I opened it and nothing was there and I got so sad." Violet leaned forward kissing her wife, Clementine kissed back for only a second before pulling away. "I'm sorry for scaring you." Another kiss, "And for waking you up." Violet leaned in again, Clementine rolled onto her back dodging the kiss.

"Violet, I've only got," Clementine looked at the clock on her dresser, it read 2:30am, "three hours, four tops before Luke gets up. I desperately need sleep."

"Of course, sleep." Violet scooted closer, laying her head on Clementine's chest. Nuzzling her cheek into her wife.

"Alright..." Clementine conceded, "Just... no more kissing on the lips, you taste like cheetos and yogurt..."

"The pizza was gone! I had to eat something!" Violet cried defensively as Clementine attempted to muffle her giggles in the sheets.

"Give me that boy!" Lee said grabbing Luke from Carley's arms. "Surrounded by girls all the time. You poor poor boy! You need some time with Grandpa." Lee carried Luke over to the recliner with a chuckle and sat down with him in his lap. Luke laughed and tugged at Lee's beard, that got shaggier by the year, as he bounced him on his knee. AJ ran up to Luke and started making faces at the tousled boy.

"I think he was doing just fine with his Meemaw thank you very much!" Carley' hmph'd' with her hands on her hips.

Clementine and Violet glanced at one another from their seats on the sofa and struggled to hold back their amusement at the new grandma name Carley created. "I... needtogocheckthefood." Clementine spewed out as she quickly stood and left the room, holding back a laugh, abandoning her wife on the couch. Violet sat wide eyed, keeping her mouth clamped tight.

"I'm going to see if Clem needs any help in the kitchen," glaring at everyone in the room as she left, Violet letting out a chuckle as soon as Carley was out of sight.

"You know... you're going to _doubly_ need to settle on a grandma name soon..." Clementine said, leaning over the stove as Carley walked in.

"Oh, I know." Carley said, eyeing Clementine as she started pulling dishes from the cabinet for their dinner. "Violet sure wasn't feeling good last week, how's she doing now?"

"I'd like to say she's all better but I think she's _twice _as sick as she was last week..." Clementine turned and raised her eyebrows at Carley, leaning back against the counter, ladle in hand.

"Clementine..." Carley said sternly, giving Clementine a pointed look.

"Carley?" Clementine tried to keep a straight face as Carley gave her the stare down.

"Do you have something you need to tell me?" Carley huffed, tapping a foot impatiently and folding her arms.

"I do..." Clementine sighed, "I should have told you this a long time ago..." Carley clasped her hands in front of her, a grin already tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Violet and I... we... we really like Cici best as a grandma name. I think you should stick with that." Carley's face dropped, Clementine turned back to the stove, poking at the food unnecessarily while trying to hide her grin.

"Clementine I swear!" Carley pulled at her hair like she was going mad.

Clementine chuckled as she set the ladle down. She turned around and walked up to Carley, placing her hands on Carley's shoulders. "Violet is pregnant."

"I knew it, I _knew_ it!" Carley grinned wrapping her arms around Clementine, "Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Clementine smiled, as Carley ran out of the room, Clementine moved to the doorway so she could watch Carley hug Violet, Violet raised an eyebrow at her wife. "The cats out of the bag, Carley knows that you're pregnant." Clementine winked at Violet and she nodded back in understanding.

Lee stood up, Carley grabbed Luke from his arms and spun him around, "Who's going to be a great big brother! Say meeeeeeeee!"

"Meeeee!" Luke screamed to the applause of everyone around.

"That's wonderful Clem!" Lee wrapped Clementine in a hug, Violet stood from the couch offering a hug to him as well as Clementine went to set out the plates. Violet hugged Lee and as she let go, he held on tighter, placing a kiss on the top of her head. "You've been a part of this family since the day I met you," Lee said softly so that only she could hear, "but you doing this for Clem..." Lee faltered, Violet returned her arms around the man again, leaning into his chest.

"I'd do anything for her Lee." Violet mumbled into him, hugging Lee was like hugging a giant teddy bear, she couldn't help but feel safe in his arms.

"I know you would, thank you for looking after my little girl." Lee gave Violet a teary smile as he pulled away. Seeing the tears in his eyes brought tears to her own.

"Don't cry, you'll make me cry!" Violet nudged him playfully as they headed into the dining room.

"I'm not crying, I just got some dust in my eye." Lee laughed and Violet joined in as she shook her head.

"Dinner's ready!" Clementine announced, bringing the food from the kitchen and setting it in the center of the table.

Everyone eagerly sat around the dining room table. Luke in his high chair with AJ and Carley on either side of him. Carley bubbled with excitement as they ate, news of Violet's pregnancy keeping the smile on her face.

"Oh I am so excited!" Carley said as she grabbed her fork.

"One or _two_?" Clementine asked, serving the enchiladas.

"Just one please." Carley smiled, "Do you have a due date yet."

"It's January 15th." Clementine answered, turning to face Violet, "one or _two_ Vi?"

Violet rolled her eyes but played along, "Two please, I've always liked things that come in twos."

"Me _too_." Clementine emphasized the too, laughing cheesily at her own terrible joke.

They continued to chat throughout dinner, Clementine mentioning the word, two or pairs or double as often as she could. When everyone finished eating Clementine dumped a box of twinkies on the table and several full sized twix bars.

"Sorry, I didn't have time to make dessert, hope this is okay." Clementine smirked at Violet who shook her head at her wife.

"Yeeeees!" AJ cheered grabbing one of each and unwrapping them eagerly.

"Twice the enjoyment." Clementine said as she opened a twix bar, holding a bar in each hand. "You know I've always found that the best things come in pairs, shoes... socks... babies..."

Carley, who had been more or less ignoring Clementine's odd rant in favor of sneakily feeding Luke a twinkie, suddenly snapped to attention, "Bab_ies_?" She asked quietly, Clementine grinned as she could see it click on her face. Carley looked from Clementine's grin to Violet's as realization dawned on her, "_Babies_?" She repeated, "Violet... are you having... are you... twins... are you having _twins_?!" Carley managed to get out, jumping from her chair, nearly knocking it to the ground as she asked. Lee's eyes widened, not having picked up on any of the clues.

Violet nodded, "I am." The scream that pierced the room was one of pure joy.

"Cici's going to be a grandma again! Times two!" She rushed around the room, hugging Violet, then Clementine, then Lee before grabbing up Luke and dancing around with him.

Violet chuckled at her excitement, "We've settled on Cici have we?" She raised her eyebrows to Clementine in question.

"We've settled on Cici." Clementine affirmed.

"Cici!" Luke repeated as he grabbed onto Carley's face, making her smile even brighter if that was possible.

"You're about to have your hands very full." Lee chuckled as he stood from the table, collecting plates to bring to the sink, "I'll do the dishes."

"You don't have to do that Lee." Clementine stood to help but he gently pushed her back down.

"Trust me, it's the _least_ I can do." Lee smiled as he left the room.

"When do you find out the gender, do you already know the gender?" Carley glared over at the two girls. AJ listened in curiosity as he continued to eat all the twinkies while Carley was distracted.

"No, we'll find out in about a month." Clementine answered.

"I want to know immediately, a phone call from the doctors office. None of this waiting weeks to tell me business, understood?" Carley berated.

"Understood." Clementine answered, feeling like a reprimanded child again.

"We have to have a baby shower!" Carley squealed, Violet didn't look quite as excited. "Or more like bab_ies_ shower!"

"Nonono," Violet held her hands out, "I don't want one of those. Everyone wanting to touch my stomach, and cooing over me, no thanks..."

"But Violet, we could really use the help, we need a lot of stuff for the twins." Clementine looked imploringly at Violet, "Another crib, a double stroller, another car seat, twice the clothes, twice the diapers..." Clementine ticked off, looking more and more frantic as she realized everything that would be needed for twins. Violet rose from her seat seeing her wife's overwhelmed expression and put her hands on her shoulders from behind, rubbing them softly.

"Okay, we can do a shower, it's fine." Violet sighed, "You're right, we're really going to need the help... Oh and Carley, don't tell anyone about the twins yet, we still have to tell everyone else. Only Sophie knows already."

"You told someone before me?!" Carley yelled.

Clementine and Violet looked at each with wide eyes. "uh oh."

Telling Marissa went much the same way, they visited her house, dropped lots of hints before finally revealing that Violet was pregnant with twins. The joy was palpable in the room as she doted gleefully on her daughter. She promised to get with Carley and plan the best shower possible for her, Clementine assured Violet that she would make sure that it involved as little belly rubbing as possible.

That weekend Clementine and Violet invited all their friends over. Louis and Sophie arrived late with boxes of donuts for everyone. As Sophie hugged Violet, who was wearing a big loose hoodie to hide her baby bump, she held on longer than usual. As she pulled away, her eyes were wide.

"Are you..." Sophie glanced over at Louis as he set the donuts down, joining everyone in the dining room. "I know you're pregnant" she whispered, "but are you pregnant with-"

Clementine grabbed Sophie's arm and pulled her into the kitchen, away from prying ears, "Violet, if you could start bringing the food out?" Violet nodded with a questioning look, grabbing trays of hot dogs and toppings bringing it to the dining table.

"Is she having twins?!" Sophie whisper yelled, doing an excited dance.

"How do you know? No one knows!" Clementine said, frustration evident in her voice.

"As a twin myself I've been granted with the gift of twin-dar." Sophie said waving her hands in the air as if she had a super power, "So it's true? She is?"

"Yes."

Sophie squealed and continued to dance excitedly around the kitchen when Violet walked back in to get the chips. "Violet! I am so happy for you! I am buying your babyies entire wardrobe! They are going to match, _all the time_!" Another squeal.

"You told her?" Violet looked at her wife in frustration.

"No! She just knew!" Clementine defended herself.

"Twin-dar!" Sophie said again.

"Well the main reason we had everyone over was to reveal that Vi's pregnant with twins so you can help." Clementine whispered her plan to Sophie, the red head agreed with huge grin on her face.

The three girls headed back into the dining room trying not to look suspicious. Louis was feeding Luke tiny unchokeable pieces of hot dog. After dinner Clementine bathed Luke and put him to bed as everyone else sat and chatted in the living room. Brody, Marlon and Violet were on the couch, Ruby and Aasim on the loveseat and Louis and Sophie tangled together on the recliner.

As Clementine came back into the room she discretely nodded at Violet. "Hey Lou, how about a game for old times sake? We don't all get together like this much anymore." Violet suggested as Clementine came and sat on the floor between Violet's legs, leaning against the couch.

"I couldn't agree more my dearest Violet." Louis reached in his pocket and pulled out his ever present pack of cards, "How about some old school truth or dare?"

"How about never have I ever? We used to play that all the time and now that we're adults it opens up a whole new line of questions." Sophie proposed. Everyone in the room agreed. "Why don't you start us off Brody?" Sophie said as everyone held up three fingers.

"Alright then," Brody agreed, "Hmmmm, never have I ever gotten married." She looked pointedly at Marlon who scratched the back of his neck nervously. Aasim, Ruby, Clementine and Violet each lowered a finger. Louis and Marlon looked at each other nervously before each of them lowered a finger as well. "Whhhhhaaaat?!" Brody fumed.

"Remember that trip to Vegas a couple years ago?" Marlon asked Brody timidly. Brody's eyes widened in horror.

"Brody, it was nothing. Marlon and I were drunk, we thought it would be hilarious. We got married and got annulled the next day. No big deal." Louis shrugged it off. Sophie laughed along with everyone but Brody and Marlon, Louis having already told her the story.

"Marlon, you're in the dog house, and it's your turn, go." Violet said once she recovered from her laughter, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Marlon was still looking uncomfortably at an angry Brody, "Never have I ever said I love you without meaning it, I love you Brody." Marlon said as he shot a smile at her. Everyone 'awwww'd'.

"I love you too." Brody rolled her eyes and dropped a finger, everyone 'oooooooooooh'd' at Marlon and laughed at their friend.

It was Aasim's turn, "Never have I ever lied in this game." Sophie, Louis, Brody and Marlon all lowered a finger.

"My friends are a bunch o' cheaters!" Ruby laughed, "I'm sorta surprised you didn't put a finger down Vi..."

"Maybe I'm lying?" She shrugged, Clementine nudged her leg with a chuckle.

Ruby went next, "Never have I ever fallen asleep in the movie theater." All the boys plus Sophie lowered a finger with a shrug.

"My turn, my turn!" Louis yelled, rubbing his hands together deviously, "Never have I ever punched a tall red headed woman at the beach."

"Seriously?" Clementine grumbled lowering her finger, "You know you could have gotten more people if you didn't make it so specific! Thanks telling about that Soph." Clementine glared jokingly at Louis and Sophie.

"Worth it!" Louis grinned.

"I tell Lou everything!" Sophie smiled kissing him on the cheek.

"Yeah she does!" Louis said proudly.

Clementine and Violet both raised their eyebrows at her, "uh...well... _almost_ everything." Sophie amended.

"Wait, what?!" Louis looked at her offended.

"My turn!" Sophie ignored Louis, "Never have I ever been pregnant!" Clementine frowned exaggeratedly as she lowered her finger.

Violet cleared her throat and lowered a finger as well, everyone stared at her in shock. Before cries of congratulations erupted around the room. Everyone getting up and taking turns hugging Violet and asking questions as Clementine absolutely beamed from the floor. Rubbing Violet's lower leg as she turned red from all the attention. Only Louis remained seated, "Wait, Violet's not pregnant..." Louis said, confused, Sophie laughed and explained that Violet was in fact pregnant. He grinned and jumped up to hug his blonde headed best friend.

"Okay, okay!" Clementine yelled, standing to get everyone's attention, "I know we're excited but I'm taking my turn anyway!" Everyone froze where they stood, "Never have I ever been pregnant..." Everyone stared at her blankly, "...with twins." Silence as everyone tried to process what she said as Violet lowered a finger.

"What?" Louis asked confused. Sophie patted him pityingly on the shoulder.

"Twins?" Brody asked.

"Darlin' are you pregnant with twins?!" Ruby looked at Violet, who gave a small nod.

"TWINS!" Louis yelled running to Violet and picking her up in a giant hug, swinging her around. An even louder cheering erupted from the living room. Followed shortly by a loud cry coming from Luke's room. Clementine swore under her breath as they had woken the boy with their loud celebrations.

"I'll get him." Sophie volunteered, rushing from the room to rock the small boy back to sleep. Everyone quieted down but continued with their happy celebrations.

"Louis! Unhand my wife, you're going to hurt my babies!" Clementine swatted at Louis as he continued to swing Violet around like a rag doll. He reluctantly let go.

Soon everyone left, giving hugs goodbye, super excited for the couple. Louis hung around talking while Sophie rocked Luke back to sleep. When she came out of the room Louis got up stretching, ready to leave.

"In case it's not obvious," Violet started as they all stood near the door while Louis and Sophie put their shoes on. "We would love for you two to be the twins godparents as well." Louis and Sophie both squealed in excitement, eyes growing wide and putting a hand over the other's mouth to quiet them so that Luke wouldn't wake up again.

"Of course we will." Sophie and Louis whispered in unison with equal enthusiasm.

"I know it's a lot to ask..." Clementine admitted. "Three kids would be a handful."

"And hopefully we'll just be buying them all the presents and doing the fun stuff, but you better believe we'll step in and take care of those kids like our own, heaven forbid anything should happen to you two." Louis said, holding back tears as he pulled Violet into a huge hug. "I love you Vi and I love all your babies." Sophie and Louis walked towards the car, Louis running back for one more hug before getting in his car, opening the passenger side window where he sat, leaning out and waving goodbye until they were out of sight.

The girls shut and locked the door, letting out a soft sigh of relief. Happy to have their secret out at last and to have so many supportive friends and family.


	16. Worn Out

Clementine was worn out. Lilly had been impossible at work, extra demanding with paper work and scheduling a meeting during Clementine's lunch break. Then there was the physical and emotional demands of her job alone. Having to lift patients from wheelchairs and help support their weight as they tried to relearn their mobility skills. The whole time being as encouraging and cheerful as possible. Today was just one of those days that seemed like every patient was both larger than her and pessimistic, completely draining her mind and body. She loved being a physical therapist but sometimes it was just hard.

Clementine sat in her car parked in the driveway for a few minutes after she got home. Leaning her head on her steering wheel trying to renew her energy for her pregnant wife. It was the kind of day where she would usually go in looking warn. Violet would tell her to take a bath while she fixed dinner and then after dinner Violet would rub her feet or shoulders as they watched tv. That was before Violet was pregnant though. Clementine didn't expect all that while she was pregnant, but weeks of working, taking care of Luke, and doing the household chores all on her own was starting to take a toll. She wanted to be the perfect caretaker for Violet but felt like she needed a day off and felt guilty for feeling that way.

Clementine knew Violet couldn't help feeling sick and tired, it wasn't her fault. Clementine was just praying that now that Violet was a couple weeks into her 2nd trimester, about fifteen weeks pregnant, that she would start to get her energy back and stop feeling so nauseous. Clementine also knew that some women felt sick their entire pregnancies and Violet had been so good to her when she was pregnant, she needed to try her hardest to return the favor.

Rubbing at a knot in her shoulder, she took a deep breath and exited her car, putting a smile on her face as she walked in the house, surprised when she was greeted by raucous laughter.

"You got it! I can't believe you got it!" Came Louis's voice yelling from the dining room. Clementine rubbed the heel of her hand against her temple. She loved Louis, but she was not feeling up to entertaining today. All she wanted to do was put on her pajamas and lay on the couch. She sighed as she kicked her shoes off and dropped her bag by the door, feeling guilty for thinking so selfishly, especially about Louis who had done so much for them.

"Hi Louis, I didn't see your car outside." Clementine said, throwing on a smile as she rounded the corner to enter the dining room. What she saw in front of her had her shaking her head in amusement. "What is going on in here?"

Louis was sitting at the table with Violet, who was blind folded. In front of them sat five boxes of chicken nuggets, all from a different restaurant. Luke sat bemused in his high chair. "Sophie dropped me off but you have to check this out, I call this, 'the chicken nugget challenge'" Louis explained waving his arm dramatically over the trays, leaving Clementine still confused. Violet moved to pull her blindfold off but Louis stopped her. "Wait Vi, you gotta see this Clem. She was good before, but with her super pregnancy sense of smell, she doesn't even have to taste them, watch!" Louis said as he picked up a nugget at random and held it under Violet's nose. She took a big whiff and nodded with confidence.

"Wendy's." She said with certainty. Louis cheered, confirming she was right. Violet pulled off her blind fold and took the nugget from Louis, popping it in her mouth. "Good day at work?" She smiled at her wife.

Clementine hesitated only for a second before smiling back. "Yeah, not too bad. How was yours?"

"Great. They had a masseuse come in and give everyone a free massage in the office _and_ they bought everyone lunch." Violet said, staring at the chicken nuggets as she talked, trying to decide which one to eat next.

"I'm happy for you, that sounds like an amazing day." Clementine turned her attention to Louis, "Staying for dinner Louis?"

"If that's cool." He grinned, "Sophie's coming to pick me up around 7. My car is in the shop and I needed a place to hang while they finished working on it. Sophie had some things she needed to get done that were booooring."

"Yeah, that's fine." Clementine said, internally hoping it would be a 'let's just eat cereal for dinner' kind of night. Clementine leaned over and kissed Luke on the head, he was sitting in his high chair eating small pieces of nugget. "I'm going to shower real fast and then fix dinner." Luke started crying and calling out "Mama!" as Clementine walked away. She sighed and pulled Luke from his high chair.

"It's okay buddy, it's okay. Mama will stay with you." Clementine held him on her hip and bounced him gently to calm him down.

"Brody said he was cranky today and had a runny nose, maybe he's getting a cold?" Violet frowned up at her son.

"Possibly, I'll just make dinner first and shower later." Clementine said, inspecting the boy, feeling his head for fever and finding it normal.

"We can have chicken nuggets!" Violet cheered, "We have plenty, can we have mashed potatoes with them? And asparagus?"

"Sure." Clementine turned toward the kitchen as Violet slipped the blindfold back over her eyes. Clementine got to work peeling and boiling the potatoes and roasting the asparagus, with more than a little difficulty because of Luke on her hip or sitting on her lap as she worked at the kitchen table. She managed though and once dinner was ready she set it down on the kitchen table.

Violet and Louis dug in energetically. "Finally, I'm starving, you're the best Clem." Violet cheered, hungrily shoveling food into her mouth.

"Yeah, the best." Louis echoed, as he began eating as well.

Clementine half smiled, Luke cried as she tried to set him down in his high chair. So she held him on her lap as she attempted to eat her own dinner while feeding a few bites of mashed potatoes to Luke before he turned his head away, refusing to eat more. Clementine frowned but assumed he was filled up on chicken nuggets and didn't think much of it. Violet and Louis happily laughed and joked through dinner. Leaving the table to play video games when they finished.

Clementine sat at the table, rubbing at her eyes and looking at her son, "Are you teething Luke? Why are you so clingy today hmm?" She stood, holding her son and began bringing the dishes back into the kitchen, when a knock came at the door.

"Can you get that Clem?" Came Violet's voice from the living room. Clementine furrowed her brow in frustration, arms full of Luke and plates.

"Got it." Clementine said sounding irked as she set the plates down a little rougher than necessary causing them to clatter into the sink. Still holding Luke she hurried to the front door, opening it for Sophie.

"Luke!" Sophie cheered, grabbing the boy and hugging him tight. He cried immediately, reaching his arms out for Clementine.

"Come on buddy, you don't need me. Stay with Soph for a minute." Clementine begged, but his hands continued to reach out, so Clementine took him back into her arms where he sniffled against her shoulder. "I think he might be teething or have a cold, sorry."

"It's fine, we all get in a mood sometimes." Sophie said, ruffling the boy's still almost white blonde locks. "Did you just get home from work?" She asked, noticing the brunette still wearing her scrubs.

"No, Luke won't let me go, I haven't had time to shower and change yet." Clementine sounded disgruntled as she spoke, "I hate wearing my scrubs at home after wearing them in the hospital all day."

Violet and Louis finished up their game and joined Sophie and Clementine at the door. "Why didn't you say something Clem, I would have taken Luke for you." Violet reached out to take him but Clementine turned away.

"It's fine, I've got him." Clementine said grouchily. Louis and Sophie's eyes widened.

"Well, that's our exit cue, thanks for letting me hang out Violet, bye!" Louis grabbed Sophie's arm and pulled her out the door.

"I can't read your mind Clementine, if you need help just ask." Violet huffed.

"We've been married six years Violet, I shouldn't have to spell everything out for you," Clementine shook her head briefly before walking away, "I'm going to give Luke some medicine and give him a bath."

Violet threw her arms in the air in frustration, not quite sure what was going on she walked back to the couch and laid down, clicking on the tv.

Clementine bathed Luke, wiping his snotty nose as he splashed in the warm water. She folded her arms on the edge of the tub, resting her head on them, feeling weary. "mama!" Luke yelled holding out a rubber ducky. Clementine smiled and reached out to take the duck from her son.

"Quack quack Luke, ducky's going to get you." Clementine made the duck swim around the bath water before tickling the boy under his arms with the toy, he giggled. "Ducky loves Luke." She made kissy sounds as she pushed the duck's bill all over Luke's face. Luke screeched with joy, trying to push the duck away. His laugh turned into a cough and Clementine patted him on the back. "Poor buddy, you do have a cold. Let's get you in your snuggly pajamas and get you some rest."

Clementine made sure he was thoroughly rinsed off. She laid a towel across her chest and pulled Luke out of the water, laying him on her chest, wrapping the towel around him. She cradled him in her arms, smiling at his sweet baby face, pressing a kiss against his cheek. "There's nothing better than a wet baby in a towel. Oh I love kissing your fresh clean cheeks. They're so damp and doughy." Clementine snuggled her head into his belly, causing him to squeal.

She carried him into his bedroom and laid him on the changing table, putting on a fresh diaper and clean pajamas. Clementine brushed his rapidly growing teeth, carried him into the living room and crouched down next to Violet. "Putting our guy to bed, want to say goodnight?"

Violet stared at Clementine, "Already?"

"He's acting like he's not feeling really great, I'm going to put him down a little early tonight." Clementine explained, Violet leaned forward, kissing Luke and ruffling his hair.

"Get some good rest buddy," Violet sat up, taking him from Clementine to give him a hug, he snuggled into Violet's chest. "I can put him down for bed, I'm feeling good today and I haven't gotten to sing to him before bed in a long time." Clementine nodded and stood, Violet grabbed her hand and pulled her down on the couch beside her. "You seem stressed out today, are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course, I'm fine." Clementine stood and went into the kitchen to clean up from dinner. Violet sighed, knowing it wasn't true but now wasn't the time to push her for answers. Violet took Luke to his room and sat in the rocker in the corner. He smiled as she sang, reaching up to touch her face as she did. Slowly his eyes got heavy and started to close, but Violet continued to rock him for a while longer. She knew she should put him down awake and let him fall asleep on his own, but he wasn't going to the baby in the family much longer. She wanted to enjoy the time she had with him as her youngest while she could. Once he was completely asleep she laid him down and walked to the kitchen, leaning against the door frame she watched for a minute as Clementine scrubbed at the dishes with a little more zeal than necessary.

"You're over doing it." Violet half smiled as she approached her wife.

"I know how to scrub a pan." Clementine retorted sounding miffed.

"I'm not talking about the pan." Violet wrapped her arms around Clementine from behind, resting her head on Clementine's shoulder. "You've been doing too much lately. You've been amazing but you don't have to do everything by yourself."

"I have to support you... I have to take care of you and our babies." Clementine rinsed off the pan and set it to the side. Violet pulled Clementine's back into her front.

"What's wrong Clem?"

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing." Violet leaned in and kissed her wife on the cheek, finding it wet. "Talk to me Clem, stop holding it in."

Clementine turned around, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I lied to you Violet, it was not a good day at work. It was a bad day. I just wanted to come home and take a bath and eat cereal for dinner."

"You're allowed to have a bad day. I'm pregnant, I'm not useless, I can help more. I've been feeling much better for days. I should have started helping more on my own, I know you're too proud to ask for help. You've done more than your fair share. Take a break." Violet hugged Clementine tight.

"Right after I get some laundry done." Clementine made to pull away.

"Nope." Violet held her tight, " You're going to take a bath and I'm going to get some laundry done, then we're going to lay in bed and I'll let you rub and talk to my stomach as much as you want."

"You will?" Clementine's eyes lit up.

"Mmhmmm." Violet smiled.

"I'm not taking a bath then, I'm just going to shower real fast!" Clementine ran out of the room at a comical speed, Violet shook her head and chuckled as she finished the dishes and moved the wet laundry from the washer to the drier.

Clementine emerged, from the bathroom, steam billowing out from behind her. She was wearing her pajamas as she climbed into bed beside Violet who was laying down waiting for her. Clementine kissed Violet quickly on the lips before scooting down the bed and pulling Violet's shirt up. No longer did she have just a baby bump, she had a rounded pregnancy belly.

Clementine caressed Violet's stomach gently, "How are my babies?"

"You know they can't answer, right?" Violet grinned.

"I know!" Clementine giggled, pressing her lips against Violet's stomach. "I just want them to recognize my voice, they aren't with me all the time like Luke was."

Violet chuckled lightly, pulling a book out and propping herself up on her pillows as Clementine continued talking to the twins. "You're my loves, I don't even know you but I already love you both. No favorites. I love you both equally, and your brother too of course." As if on cue Luke began crying.

"I'll get him." Clementine jumped up with concern. Luke rarely cried in the middle of the night. She opened the door before Violet could protest. Clementine bent over the crib and ran her fingers over Luke's face. He didn't feel warm, she pulled him out of his crib as he hiccuped, snuffling frustratedly, sounding like he had a stuffy nose.

Clementine sat down in the rocker, holding him up on her shoulder and patting his back. He coughed and she could feel the congestion in his chest. He continued to sniffle as Clementine sang and rubbed circles on the boy's back. He rested his head on his Mama's shoulder, relaxing in her embrace. Violet listened in on the baby monitor in their room, smiling at her wife's voice, Clementine sang for no one but Luke. This was the only way she could hear Clementine singing and the sound of it made her heart swell in her chest.

Violet fell asleep, book in her hand, put at ease by the sound of Clementine's voice wafting in through the baby monitor. She woke up hours later, her need to use the restroom waking her from her slumber. Something that happened more often the further along she got in her pregnancy. After relieving her bladder she started to get back in bed, but noticed that Clementine was missing. She listened to the baby monitor. Silence. Violet walked out of the bedroom and through the house. Clementine wasn't in the kitchen or the living room. She padded down the hall to Luke's room and quietly opened the door. Violet grinned as her eyes landed on the corner of the room. There was Clementine leaned back in the rocker, sleeping soundly. Luke dozing on her shoulder looking as content and peaceful as she'd ever seen him.

Violet delicately extricated Luke from Clementine's arms, laying him down in his crib, careful not to rouse him. Replacing the warmth from his Mama with a snugly blanket. After she was certain that he wasn't going to start crying she gently shook Clementine's shoulder, "Hey, babe, wake up." Violet whispered softly.

Clementine groaned as Violet pulled her out of the rocker. The blonde wrapped her arm around her wife's waist as she slumped into her side. "Where are we going?" Clementine grumbled half asleep as Violet led her back to their bedroom.

"Back to bed." Violet explained to her sleepy wife.

"I'm not tired." Clementine mumbled, eyes lidded. "I want to go back to the zoo."

"You do?" Violet grinned, they hadn't been to the zoo since they were dating.

"Yeah... Luke loves the pandas." Clementine said as Violet eased her into the bed.

"The pandas hmm?" Violet encouraged, trying to see what else Clementine would say in her groggy state.

"Pandas are cute." Clementine yawned as she snuggled into her pillow.

"Yes they are." Violet kissed Clementine on the top of the head. "Can the twins come?"

"Yeah..." Clementine said, "I love the twins..."

"So do I." Violet pulled the covers over the two of them, cuddling up next to her wife as they both drifted back to sleep.


	17. Hooky

Violet's eyes shot open as she laid in bed, awaking from a dream that felt more like a premonition. Rolling over she came face to face with her wife who was sleeping, dreaming, far away from her worries and looking as angelic as Violet had ever remembered her being. Softly she brushed the hair out of Clementine's face, finger tips brushing against skin. The brunette smiled softly at the contact as if she knew Violet was watching over her.

Carefully reaching over her wife's sleeping form she grabbed Clementine's phone off her nightstand, turning off her work alarm. She slipped out of bed, tiptoeing quietly out of the room. Violet let out a sigh of relief as she opened the laptop on the table in their dark kitchen. Typing quickly, she found exactly what she was looking for, what she had dreamed about. Grinning she clicked the purchase button and sent a quick email to Lee and Carley. Violet stood excitedly and hurried to the bedroom to start sneakily packing their bags.

When it was late enough Violet sat down in a chair in the kitchen, pulled out Clementine's cell phone and clicked on Lilly's number. Surprised when Lilly answered immediately.

"Hello Lilly, this is Violet, Clementine was up sick all night, she's not going to be able to make it into work today." Violet lied for her wife. "Mmhmmm... yes... I know how important Clementine is... Mhmm... I know she has a lot of patients today... I understand that you need her but-" Violet rolled her eyes as Lilly kept talking, "Listen! Do you want her to come in and vomit all over your patients and get everyone sick?" Violet ran her hands through her hair in frustration, feeling even sorrier for what her wife had to go through. ".._.than_k you for understanding, she won't be at work tomorrow either." Violet quickly hung up the phone before Lilly could argue. Smiling as her dreamed up plans started to become a reality. The hardest part of her plan was left, telling Clementine.

Clementine stretched in bed, rolling over to grab her phone to check the time, finding it missing.

"Vi?" Clementine sluggishly rolled out of bed, the sun was streaming in through the windows, appearing later than it should be. What time _was _it? Clementine rushed from the room to check. She slid to a stop in the kitchen, eyes landed on the microwave sending her into a panic. "9am?! I'm so late... Lilly is going to kill me..."

Violet ran to Clementine, holding Luke in her arms before her wife could escalate into full a full frenzy. "Clem, I called in, you're taking a sick day. Today and tomorrow."

"Sick day? I need those days for when the babies come Vi, I can't take them now. You're going to need me home as long as possible." Clementine explained in a flurry, hurriedly going to their bedroom to change into her scrubs.

"Then quit." Violet shrugged. "We've talked about it before and I'll talk about it again. Just quit. We'll be fine."

"I don't know... I have been thinking about starting my own practice... I could be my own boss, make my own schedule, take on as many or few patients as I could handle. I know someone who's done it. They don't even have an office, they offer services in the patients own home." Clementine's eyes stared blankly as she got lost in thought, "It could work, I would have more time for you and the babies... it's a risk though and a lot of work to get started."

"But it'll be better in the long run?" Violet asked, smiling at the excitement in her wife's eyes.

"Yes... I think so." Clementine nodded with a smile, "I know a lot of my patients would come with me."

"Then it's settled, you can get to work on all of that as soon as we get back from our weekend cruise."

"Our weekend what?!" Clementine sputtered.

"We're going on a weekend cruise. Our beach vacation was so stressful, we need a redo." Violet leaned in and kissed Clementine on the forehead as the shocked expression lingered on her face.

"B-but Luke's sick."

"He's feeling much better this morning." Violet held the boy up to Clementine's face, he giggled as he reached for Clementine's wild morning hair.

"We'd have to pack." Clementine stated.

"Already packed." Violet said, knowing Clementine would list her concerns as soon as she told her. The blonde smirked, ready for the next one.

"It'll be hard to relax with Luke there..." Clementine gave her boy a good morning kiss on the cheek.

"Carley and Lee are coming to help. AJ's going to stay with a friend for the weekend." Violet nodded, satisfied that she had the answer but not getting cocky because Clementine was sure to have more questions.

"You're pregnant, should we really be going so far from home?" Clementine looked down at Violet's small rounded belly in concern.

"I just entered my second trimester, I called the doctor and she said it was safe." Violet answered, waiting for Clementine to fire another concern at her.

"We'd have to drive down there... it was pretty miserable when we went to the beach with Luke..." Clementine said, thinking back on the last trip.

"He did much better on the way home and this time I downloaded every episode of Disco Broccoli and his Jive Talking Friends on the tablet to make the trip smoother. It'll be great... please?" Violet pleaded, giving Clementine her best puppy dog face that she reserved for only the most desperate of situations.

Clementine sighed at her wife, "When do we leave?"

Violet cheered as she jumped around the room with Luke. "Family cruise!"

Lee rented a minivan for the trip and drove the whole way down. Carley sat in the back, enjoying her time alone with Luke, doting on him the entire drive. Clementine smiled softly at her wife as they sat together in the middle two seats. Violet felt eyes on her as she stared out the window, turning she met Clementine's golden eyes.

"I love you." Clementine said as their eyes connected, leaning over the empty space between their seats so she could whisper. "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you when you didn't even know anything was wrong."

"Forgotten." Violet said, closing the gap between them so that she could kiss her wife sweetly on the lips.

"None of that back there you two!" Lee yelled from the front, as he stared at the girls in the rear view mirror. "Am I going to have to make one of you sit in the front seat next to me like I did when you were in high school?"

"Lee!" Carley scolded, "Leave them alone, they're precious."

"This isn't a party van, there are some things a dad just doesn't need to see." Lee asserted.

"Sorry Lee..." Clementine said like a reprimanded child.

Violet grinned into the rear view mirror, "Yeah, sorry Lee."

Lee shook his head, "I don't believe you Violet, I don't believe you now and I didn't believe you then. Corrupting my sweet innocent Clementine."

"_Your _Clementine hasn't been _sweet_ or _innocent_ in a long time Lee. Why, one time in high school-" Violet started, with no intent on actually revealing any information, just wanting to make Lee squirm.

"No!" Lee yelled covering his ear with one hand while the other stayed on the steering wheel. Violet chuckled at her success.

"I am _too_ sweet." Clementine jokingly pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Of course you are Clem." Violet reassured, pecking her on the cheek, gaining a glare from Lee.

Clementine sat her bag down in their small room on the cruise ship. The bed was full sized, much smaller than the queen that they were used to at home. A crib was in the corner of the room for Luke and there was large glass window leading to a small balcony.

"This is really nice Violet." Clementine said as she stared out at the ocean as the ship sailed off to sea. Violet wrapped her arms around her from behind, kissing her neck.

"Carley has Luke in their room..." Violet casually mentioned, sliding her hands under Clementine's tank top.

"Oh yeah?" Clementine closed her eyes and leaned back into the embrace.

"Yeah." Violet grinned, enjoying the soft exhales of pleasure she received from her wife as her hands roamed, "Bed or balcony?" she continued her kisses.

"Bed's closer." Clementine decided, turning to push the blonde onto it's soft mattress, falling onto the bed at her side, "Besides, I think we need to work our way up to the balcony."

"You're right." Violet inhaled sharply at Clementine's wandering hands, "How silly of me to even suggest it first."

"Enough talking, they could bring Luke back any minute." Clementine kissed Violet deeply, erasing words from her mind, leaving only sensations.

A knocking came on the door. Violet sighed as she disentangled herself from Clementine's body, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand.

"So much for round three..." Violet whispered into Clementine's ear as she stood from the bed and began pulling on her ruffled, discarded clothing. "Just a second!" she called to the person at the door as she continued to dress, pausing briefly to appreciate her wife as she gathered her own clothes and took them into the bathroom with a wink.

Violet opened the door as she combed through her hair with her fingers, revealing Lee and Carley who was holding Luke. "We just came by to grab Luke's bathing suit, we're going to take him to the pool." Carley said, bouncing Luke on her hip.

"Taking a nap I see, good idea after the long drive." Lee said as he eyed the disheveled bed and Violet's rumpled clothing. "I could use a nap myself." He chuckled.

"I'm sure you could Lee." Violet patted the man on the shoulder, smiling to herself as she stepped out of the doorway and allowed them to come into the room. Lee closed the door behind him as Violet grabbed Luke's bag off the ground and rummaged through it to find his swim suit. "Here it is!" Violet pulled out Luke's shark swimming trunks with matching swim shirt.

Clementine walked out of the bathroom and greeted her family. "Just taking Luke to the pool." Carley explained as she put on Luke's swim diaper and clothing.

"That sounds great. Want to go up Violet?" Clementine asked.

"Sure, I could use a break." Violet smirked at Clementine's reddened cheeks as she pulled out her one piece and took it into the bathroom. As a distraction Clementine grabbed the sunscreen off the dresser and started slathering it on Luke's doughy soft skin.

"Luke's all ready to go, how about we meet you up there after we get dressed?" Clementine suggested, wiping the excess sunscreen on her bare arms.

"Sounds like a plan, see you in a minute sweet pea. Don't you take another nap and forget about us, understood?" Lee chuckled as he, Carley and Luke left the room, Clementine's eyes widened at his comment.

"A nap?" Clementine asked as soon as the door was closed, Violet grinned as she came out of the bathroom wearing her swim suit.

"He thought we were napping in here this whole time, did you want me to correct him? No sir Mr. Everett, me and your _sweet_ and _innocent_ Clementine were just-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Clementine put a hand over Violet's mouth, effectively quieting her spouse. "I'm getting dressed then we can go." Clementine grabbed her suit and changed in the bathroom. When she exited Violet was sitting on the bed waiting, belly all the more noticeable with the stretchy material pulled tight over it.

Clementine couldn't keep the smile off her face as she got on her knees in front of her wife, kissing her stomach. "Vi, you are the cutest pregnant woman ever."

"No." Violet shook her head, "You only say that because you couldn't see yourself. You were the cutest pregnant woman ever."

"Agree to disagree..." Clementine smiled, rubbing her belly one last time before standing.

Hand in hand the two made their way up to the pool deck. When they arrived they saw Carley in the water with Luke. She was smiling proudly as he kicked his legs with enthusiasm. Lee was off to the side holding a stick, standing next to a long rectangular court with a triangular scoring area on each end. He used the stick to push a puck from one end of the court to the other.

"I'm going to talk to Lee." Clementine moved towards the man that she had long considered her father. "Whatcha doin' old man?" She grinned. Violet joined Carley and Luke in the pool as Clementine grabbed another stick leaning against the rack.

"Old man?" Lee chuckled. "This old man just beat an even older man at shuffle board."

"So you can beat an old man... Do you think you can beat a sprier opponent?" Clementine challenged, pushing a blue puck across the court with her stick, landing it in the highest point area of the triangle.

"Is that a challenge?" Lee raised his eyebrows.

"I think it's time to show you how the pupil has surpassed the master." Clementine spun her stick around cockily.

"Is it now? Hmmm..." Lee pushed a yellow puck across the court one handed. He leaned on his stick, so confident in his shot that he barely watched the court in his peripheral as his yellow puck knocked into Clementine's blue one, pushing it out of the scoring zone. Lee grinned as Clementine's jaw dropped open. "What do you say we make a little wager? If you aren't afraid that is..."

Clementine shook her head, regaining her confidence, "Bring it on, _old_ man." She narrowed her eyes playfully, Lee smiled at the girl he raised, appreciating the woman she had become.

"The dinner tonight is supposed to be really fancy... you'd look really silly if you wore that old baseball cap of yours with your dress." Lee suggested.

"And if I win?" Clementine asked, cocking her head and raising a brow.

"Then I'll wear your hat with my suit. I'll even wear it backwards." Lee leaned on his stick and gave Clementine a self assured smile.

"Deal." Clementine held her hand out. Lee shook it and they began their game.

Clementine walked into the dining room, chandeliers hung from the ceiling, ornate table clothes covered the eating surfaces. Everyone was wearing their nicest dresses and suits. . Even Luke had on a white shirt and a tie. Clementine's cheeks glowed red as she tugged self consciously at the hat on her head, feeling awkward wearing it with her black dress. She stared around the room looking for Lee and Carley, finally spotting them at a circular table near the edge.

"Lee won't really care if you wear that thing..." Violet smirked as she noticed Clementine's discomfort. Violet was dressed in her gray pants and vest, and white shirt. They were buttoned all the way up but the bottom few buttons were undone to allow space for her protruding belly. She was holding her son in one arm and Clementine's hand in the other.

"I lost. I'm wearing it. A bet's a bet." Clementine said, holding her head up high as they walked to Lee and Carley's table. Violet admired her confidence, holding her hand a little tighter, proud to be at her side.

"It looks good if you ask me. I'm kind of regretting you not wearing it at our wedding now that I'm looking at you." Violet winked as they reached the table, Clementine gave an appreciative smile to her wife as they sat down.

"There's the sweet pea I know and love." Lee grinned, tipping the hat into her eyes. She pushed it back up, trying to glower but unable to keep the smile off her face. "Who's an old man now?"

"Still you I'm afraid." Clementine gave him a good natured ribbing. He laughed in appreciation, pulling her into a side hug.

"Thank you two for coming with us. I know it was last minute." Violet looked earnestly at her in-laws.

"Thank you for taking care of the expenses." Carley held Luke in her lap, feeding him bits of bread. "Having this one on one time with Luke is priceless. It's nice to be able to shower him in affection before the twins arrive and everything gets crazy, but Cici will always love her Luke. Even when the babies come." She covered his head in kisses as Violet pulled her phone out and snapped a picture of them.

Violet turned the camera around and motioned for Clementine to lean in, snapping a picture of the two of them in their formal attire, plus Clementine's hat.

"Thank you for this Violet." Clementine whispered as food started to arrive at the table. "It's been so nice already and we still have all day tomorrow to enjoy... I didn't realize how much I needed something like this."

"You deserve it Clem." Violet pecked Clementine on the cheek.

"I don't know about that, but I appreciate it all the same." Clementine smiled, eyes shining beneath the rim of her cap. Violet held her gaze until Clementine turned to the food, smiling with excitement as she began eating.

By the time dessert arrived Luke was starting to fall asleep in his high chair. His head drooping slightly before jerking back up. "Somebody is up past his bedtime." Violet pulled him out of his high chair where he happily snuggled into her chest. She kissed his head and stood from the table. "We'll see you two tomorrow. Have a good night."

Clementine gave Lee and Carley a hug, everyone saying their good nights as Clementine grabbed a plate of desserts to bring back to the room.

Violet unlocked their cabin door one handed, the girls going into their room, locking it behind them. She removed Luke's tie and laid him in his crib. He rolled onto his stomach, nuzzling into his mattress, Violet smiled at her boy, covering him with his blanket.

Clementine opened the balcony door, drawing Violet's eyes and nodding outside, carrying the tray of desserts out as she went. Violet followed after, leaving the sliding door open just a crack as they sat on the floor, backs leaned against the door. Clementine set the plate between them as they looked out over the waves, nibbling on the treats in silence, both still wearing their dressy attire minus their shoes.

"Lee and Carley agreed to watch Luke tomorrow if you wanted to get a couples massage. They have a spa on the boat too if you wanted to do a full spa treatment... Manicure, pedicure, exfoliation and all that stuff. That's not really my thing but I'd do it just to spend time with you." Violet finished off the last dessert, moving the plate so she could scoot over until their thighs were touching.

"That sounds nice." Clementine smiled, leaning her head on Violet's shoulder. Violet's hand rested on Clementine's knee, slowly moving up her thigh.

"You know what else sounds nice?" Violet asked unnecessarily. Clementine rolled her eyes as she removed her hat and leaned in for a kiss but Violet pulled back, "Leave the hat on?"

Clementine smirked as she put it back on her head, leaning in for a kiss again, stopping right before they connected, her eyes narrowed seriously, "If you knock my hat overboard we're getting a divorce." Violet gulped as their lips met, eyes widening in fear as the ocean loomed in front of them.


	18. Baby Shower

Being pregnant was the worst, Violet hated absolutely every part of it. Well, almost every part of it. She didn't hate how cuddly Clementine had become since she was pregnant. She definitely didn't hate her increased libido. She didn't hate feeling her babies move around inside of her, she was in awe it honestly. Everything else sucked though. The increased need to use the restroom was terrible, rolling over was hard, randomly belly bumping strangers was the worst. She was waddling when she walked which was adorable when Clementine had done but she didn't carry it with the same grace as her adorable wife. She looked like mother goose and not in a cute way. And how could she forget strangers touching her stomach without asking? Violet was about to start breaking some fingers if it kept happening.

Clementine stepped out of Luke's room, having just laid him down to bed for the night. Her face broke out in a grin as it always did when she saw Violet with her large rounded belly. "Twenty weeks pregnant already!" Clementine sighed, kissing Violet on the cheek and caressing her stomach.

"_Already_?" Violet laughed, "Feels like twice as long, my back is killing me... I think I'm going to take a bath."

"Alright, let me fill it up for you and I can help you get in. Do you want bubbles or bath salts or candles or-" Clementine rattled on, Violet grabbed Clementine's face with both hands and kissed her firmly on the lips.

"Thank you so much Clem, but I can do it. You go watch tv or get some rest."

"If you're sure?" Clementine gave Violet a hard look, she nodded her reassurance, "Then I think I'll start filling out the paper work for my business license." Violet crinkled her nose at the idea, it was the exact opposite of resting in her opinion but the way Clementine's eyes lit up and she rubbed her palms together, Violet knew she was looking forward to it.

"Go, have 'fun'." Violet chuckled as Clementine went off to the kitchen to do her paper work. Violet went through her bedroom to their adjoining bathroom. She rotated the knobs on the tub, sticking her hand under the faucet and adjusting the hot and cold until it ran the perfect temperature. As the tub filled she pulled a stool up next to the tub and set her book, her phone and a hand towel on it. Grabbing a package of bath salts she dumped a generous amount in the warm water, hoping it would help ease her aching back. Violet disrobed, putting her clothes in the dirty laundry basket just as the water filled up to her desired level. The knobs were twisted off and Violet stepped carefully into the bath.

Violet furrowed her eyebrows as the water was displaced more than she would've liked as she entered the tub. Settling down against the slanted back, she eased down into the water, only the top of her belly poking out. She closed her eyes, enjoying the weightlessness the tub offered, already feeling relief on her lower back as the water helped support her.

She reached out of the bath for her book, to read for a while, enjoying the quiet.

When the water started getting cold she washed her body and her hair and attempted to get out of the tub. She felt like a turtle on her back, unable to lean forward and sit up, her belly blocking her from doing that. She would normally just roll to her side and stand but the tub walls prevented that from happening as well.

Violet swore under her breath and reached for her cell phone. Knowing she was going to regret this but unable to come up with another solution and not wanting to become a giant prune. With a sigh she messaged Clementine.

**Vi:** can you come help me? Please don't laugh...

Clementine was in the room seconds later. "What's going on Vi? Are you okay?" Concern was etched on her face.

Violet stared straight, not meeting her eyes, "I'm stuck..." She mumbled, sinking lower into the water.

"You're... stuck?" Clementine asked for clarification, an amused smile playing at her lips.

"Don't make me say it again..." Violet looked up at Clementine with the best pouty face she could muster.

"Oh my Vi, my poor sweet wifey!" Clementine fell dramatically on her knees at the edge of the tub, snuggling her cheek against Violet's.

Violet glowered, "Help me out please? The water's getting cold."

"Why would I do something like that when I have you trapped at my mercy?" Clementine moved down to kiss her exposed belly, as she did, a shocked expression crossed her face and she looked wide eyed at Violet.

"Did you feel that?" Violet asked, excited for her wife to finally feel the baby's movements that she had been feeling internally for weeks.

"They kicked me, my babies kicked me!" Clementine smashed her lips against her stomach again, placing her hands on either side, increasing the surface area where she could feel movement. "They're kicking me!"she yelled joyfully as she turned her face so that she could keep her cheek smooshed against Violet's belly. Squealing with joy at every pulse she felt. "They love me! Mama loves you too my twinsies."

"Clem, they're kicking you in the face." Violet chuckled, "That's the opposite of love, they're trying to beat you up. Pay back for waking them up with all your talking and snuggles at night."

Clementine narrowed her eyes at Violet as she reached into the bath and pulled the drain, waiting until a third of the water was gone before scooting Violet's leg away from the faucet and turning it on hot.

"What are you doing?" Violet asked as Clementine kept one hand in the water to make sure it didn't get too warm. "I thought you were going to help me out. Stuck. Remember?"

"Plan's changed." Clementine turned the water off when it was full enough and began removing her clothes.

"Oooooo, yeah?" Violet excitedly looked over her wife as she undressed.

"Not that." Clementine sighed, rolling her eyes and holding her hands out to Violet, "Sit up a bit." Violet took her hands allowing herself to be pulled up.

Carefully Clementine climbed in behind her, settling in as the water splooshed around them, putting a leg on each side of Violet, "Now lean back," Clementine instructed and Violet did, moving back until her head rested on Clementine's shoulder. The brunette reached around, resting her hands on Violet's middle, sighing contentedly as she felt the squirming of her babies within. "Bath cuddles." She explained in case it weren't obvious.

"We haven't done this in a long time." Violet turned her head so she could place a kiss on her wife's neck. "Since before Luke was born, way before."

"Has it been that long?" Clementine removed a hand from Violet's belly and began stroking her wet locks, almost brown looking when soaked through. Violet closed her eyes and rested her arms on her wife's knees, moving her hand up and down them distractedly, feeling their silky smoothness.

"I love you Vi... _so_ much. There's no one else I'd want to go on this journey with, you're my best friend." Clementine kissed the side of her head, continuing to play with her hair.

"I love you too Clem." Violet smirked, "Is it weird for best friends to cuddle in the bath tub together?"

"Nope." Clementine laughed. They settled into a comfortable silence, Violet enjoying Clementine's gentle caresses until the water once again started to get cool.

"The water's getting cold, have you washed yet?" Clementine asked, grabbing a bar of soap and working up a lather on her bare hands.

"Yeah, I did before you got in." Violet responded lazily, still leaning weightlessly into her wife.

"Are you sure you were _thorough_ enough? I mean... it's got to be hard to reach everywhere with you stomach in the way..." Clementine whispered seductively into Violet's ear.

Violet's eyes grew wide. "I thought you said cuddles only?"

Clementine shrugged, "Laying naked in the tub with you made me change my mind. Unless you don't want to..."

"No!" Violet answered a little too quickly, "Wash me, I'm dirty, _so_ dirty." Clementine rolled her eyes as she teasingly began soaping her belly.

Violet laid on the now familiar crinkly paper with her shirt pulled up above her belly. Cold gel squeezed onto her stomach sending a shiver up her spine. Clementine held her hand tight. Today was the day. The day they found out the sex of their babies.

Clementine leaned down and kissed Violet on the cheek, she was practically vibrating with excitement. "I don't even care what we're having, I'm just dying to know."

"You never were good with surprises." Violet grinned, staring up into the amber eyes of her wife, eyes that were shining with pure happiness. Violet tugged on her arm, bringing her down to her level so she could place a soft kiss on her wife's lips. "I love you Clementine."

"I love you too Violet." Clementine whispered, blushing at the kiss.

"I can't wait either!" Carley said as she wrapped her arm around Clementine in a half hug, effectively pulling Violet and Clementine out of their moment. "I can't wait to be a Gammi for three!"

"Gammi?" Clementine asked, raising an eyebrow at Carley. "I thought you settled on Cici?"

"The more I say Cici, the more I hate it!" Carley huffed as the technician pulled the tool off the ultrasound machine and pressed it to her belly.

"Ohhhh, it's time!" Marissa squealed, ruffling Violet's hair, making her regret inviting the two grandmas to their ultrasound. If this was any indication what it was going to be like in the delivery room Violet was considering having Clementine tell them to stay out. Forget about hurt feelings, Violet wanted to focus on Clementine and not the antics of their moms. As much as Clementine didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings she could be as cold as steel when it came to protecting Violet.

"It's so nice you could bring your family in today!" Sarah began moving the device around on Violet's belly as the blonde rolled her eyes, "looks like we're getting a really clear picture!"

All the women stood with bated breath, staring as silhouettes of tiny noses and fingers filled the screen. Violet reached up and grabbed her Mom's hand as she continued to hold Clementine's with her other, tears began welling in her eyes as she looked upon her two precious babies.

"They're so beautiful." Carley choked out between, sobs.

"Perfect." Marissa stated with cries of her own.

Violet chanced a glance up at Clementine, her eyes were alight and she wasn't crying, but smiling, a soft pure smile that filled Violet's chest with so much emotion she felt like she was going to burst. Clementine looked down at Violet, having felt her eyes on her and grinned even brighter. "Our babies." Clementine said simply, giving her wife an adoring look before moving her eyes back to the screen.

"Now if we look at them from this angle," Sarah said, moving the device around on Violet's belly. "We should be able to see what sex they are. There we go, couldn't ask for a clearer shot, you're definitely having... wait, you want to know right?"

"Yes!" Carley and Marissa yelled in unison as they stared at the grey and black picture on the screen, trying to decipher what they were seeing.

"Oh, okay, a lot of couples now want it to be a surprise and do a big gender reveal thing with a party and-" Sarah went on.

"No, none of that, we want to know. That's why we came." Carley explained impatiently.

"That's good to know, sometimes I just blurt things out without thinking and people get real mad at-"

"Not us, just go ahead and blurt it out sweety." Marissa said. Clementine and Violet shaking their heads at their mothers' enthusiasm.

"Alright, it's clear from this image, if you look here and here." Sarah used the computer to circle areas on the images, "You two will be having-"

It was the day of Violet's baby shower. It was held at Lee and Carley's house where they had a big open living room/kitchen area for guests to spread out and talk. Despite the open space a crowd was gathered around Violet, Clementine had successfully fended them off for a while but she was now busy helping Carley refill the food table, and everyone wanted to touch Violet's stomach. A hopeless look crossed her face as her eyes desperately searched the room for her knight in shining armor. Finally Violet spotted her, across the room talking with Lee.

"I would be more than happy to take Luke to the park, let you girls enjoy your party." Lee offered. As much as he wanted to spend time with Luke, he wanted out of that party even more. The conversations that were going on around the room about breast feeding and nipple sensitivity were making him extremely uncomfortable.

"If you _really_ want me to be here sweet pea, I'll stay..." Lee resigned as Clementine gave him a disappointed look at the offer.

"It would mean a lot to me i f you stayed Lee..." Clementine started her guilt trip, only to see the most uncomfortable look cross his face as someone in the room said the word 'mucus plug'. "...but you can go. It'll be good to have Luke out of the way." Clementine leaned up and kissed Lee on the cheek as a look of pure relief shone on his face.

"I'll go put the car seat in my truck." Lee grinned as he left the room.

Violet continued to be bombarded.

"Have the babies started moving yet?" Sophie asked, hand on Violet's belly.

"I never thought I'd see the day!" Brody chuckled, hand also on belly.

"You are just the cutest Vi!" Ruby stated as she too reached out.

"How are my precious god babies doing in there?!" Louis yelled, both hands on her belly, mouth as close as possible so that the twins could hear him.

As Clementine turned away from Lee and continued to help Carley with the food she glanced up to see her very flustered looking wife trapped in the middle of a sea of people.

"Be right back." Clementine told Carley, knowing her wife was in need of a rescue. She marched straight into the crowd and began waving them off, "Alright, alright, I know we're all excited but if we could all just keep our hands-" Clementine noticed Louis's mouth uncomfortably close to Violet's stomach. "and mouths away from my wife's incredibly sweet and beautiful belly please." Everyone backed up grumbling as Clementine shooed them away.

"Is this over yet?" Violet frowned, "The only person I like touching my stomach is you."

"I knew you liked it!" Clementine said victoriously as she leaned down pecking Violet on the lips. "Let me finish helping with the food and then we can start presents and then we can go home just me, you and Luke."

"That sounds perfect." Violet grinned as Clementine went back to help Carley.

Louis pulled a chair to the center of the room, standing on top of it he cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to our darling Vi's baby shower." Violet was glaring daggers at him. "Carley and Marissa have kindly allowed me to be in charge of games."

"No." Violet spoke up adamantly.

"But-" Louis tried, face falling in disappointment.

"No." Violet repeated.

Louis stepped sulkily off his chair and Violet rolled her eyes. "Fine Lou, one game."

Louis squealed in excitement as he moved the chair into the center of the room and beckoned Violet to sit on it. He pulled a stack of cards out of his pocket and held them in the air.

"I have here a stack of note cards with questions _and _answers, now I asked these same questions to the Clemster earlier today. I'll get your answer first and then I'll read off Clementine's answer." Louis put on his best announcer voice as he drew the attention of everyone in the room. "Got it?" He asked Violet, she nodded, trying not to pay attention to all the eyes boring into her. "Now Violet, when did you first fall in love with Clem?"

"In high school" Violet said without hesitation.

"Well okay then, Clementine's answer was a bit more specific. She said, 'I knew I loved Violet when I first moved into Ericson high school. Some kids were pushing me around and Violet stood in front of me, risking herself to protect me.' Awww, good job Vi." Louis said, Violet blushed at the memory, that was years before Clementine confessed her feelings. Violet knew she had cared about her before they started dating but she didn't know she had felt those feelings for that long.

"Next question!" Louis announced, "Where were you when you found out you were pregnant?"

"In London." Violet smiled at the memory. It was beautiful and sad at the same time.

"Clementine said 'I was home with Luke, I was so excited to find out she was pregnant but not being able to celebrate with her in person tore me apart.'" Louis read from his card as the crowd of people 'awww'd around them.

Louis asked a few more questions before getting to his final card, "Violet, do you want your babies to be a girls, boys or one of each?"

Violet looked over at Clementine, "We just found out yesterday what we're having, so it's hard to imagine having anything else. I'm happy with what they are. What did Clem say?" The crowd grew into an uproar, not believing that they had found out the sex of the baby without telling anyone yet.

Louis silenced the crowd and smiled as he read the card out loud, "Clementine said 'Violet and I are perfectly happy to announce that Violet is pregnant with twin baby girls!"

Cheers and hugs and congratulations floated around the room as Violet stood up to accept them. While Sophie was giving her a particularly tight hug Violet caught sight of Clementine who shot her a wink before hugging their friends and family as well. As soon as Violet was able she made her way over to Clementine, hugging her wife.

"I thought we were going to announce it after presents?" Violet raised an eyebrow in question.

"Louis approached me with the game idea and I thought it would be fun. Are you mad?" Clementine looked at her wife worried, "I should have told you before but you're a very popular lady today."

"Of course I'm not mad. Let's open presents so we can go home." Violet leaned in to whisper in Clementine's ear.

"You've earned it." Clementine hugged her wife the best she could with her belly between them and announced to the crowd that they would now be opening presents.

Clementine sat next to Violet as they opened the gifts together. Violet glared when she opened the box from Marlon, seeing that it was a package of birth control pills.

"Just in case you don't want any more kids." Marlon laughed at his own joke as Violet threw the pills back at him.

"That's not how this works you idiot. No accidents here. All of our children were planned thank you very much. Give these to Brody though, the world doesn't need any more Marlon's running around." The crowd chuckled appreciatively at Violet's retort. Marlon crossed his arms and slunk deeper into the sofa.

Clementine stared down confused at two large boxes in front of her. They were both signed 'from Sophie and Louis' but one had a large G on it and the other a B. "Open the 'G' box." Sophie called out at her look of confusion. Clementine ripped open the box, finding it full of matching girls clothing. Two of every outfit in a huge box filled to the brim.

"Wow, thanks you two, so much..." Clementine shuffled through the box, finding sizes all the way from newborn to 12 months old.

"We also have a few more things in the car, but we'll just carry those to your house for you, it's a hassle to bring them in and then take them right back to the car." Louis explained. Clementine and Violet shrugged and continued to open presents. Thanking everyone as they went.

As the night drew to a close, Marissa and Carley pushed the girls out the door, refusing their help with the cleaning. Lee loaded the presents in the girl's car as they buckled Luke in and off they drove to their quaint house, Louis and Sophie following behind.

"You were right Clem, the shower helped a lot. We got so many nice clothes, and bottles and pacifiers for our baby girls." Violet said as she unlocked the door to the house with Luke on her hip, holding it open as Clementine came in, arms laden with gifts.

"And all the diapers and bath stuff, everyone was very nice." Clementine added as she dropped the gifts on the kitchen table.

"Hold the door!" Louis yelled as he carried a huge box into the house.

"Louis, you really don't have to do all this..." Clementine shook her head at the size of the box as he dropped it with a thud onto the living room floor.

"Oh, don't worry, we did more." Louis grinned from ear to ear as he ran back out the door only for him and Sophie to continue carrying large boxes into the house. Violet and Clementine stood wide eyed, thinking every box would be their last until it finally was.

"What is all this?" Violet managed to get out as she stared in shock at the boxes. Luke ran around the floor, climbing on top of whatever box he could. Clementine one step behind him, pulling him down the second he climbed up.

"Let's see," Sophie thought, as she pointed at random boxes. "Those two are cribs, that's an extra high chair since you already have Luke's old one, a baby rocker, a swing, an infant car seat and that big one is a double stroller... I think that's it."

"That's it? That's _it_?" Violet guffawed, throwing her arms around both Louis and Sophie, unable to stop the tears building in her eyes from the pure generosity of it all. "Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this helps."

"You forgot one thing Sophie my love," Louis reached in his pocket and pulled out a card, handing it to Violet. She pulled away so she could read it.

"A year's subscription for diapers?" Violet laughed as tears began trickling down her cheek. "Louis... you didn't have to..."

"Nope. I wanted to. I love you Vi." Louis said as he hugged her, leaning awkwardly over her belly, "I want nothing more than the best for my god daughters."

"I love you too Lou." Violet smiled through her tears.


	19. So It Begins

"I hate being pregnant!" Violet sat on the edge of the bed, slowly easing onto her side. "I can't lay on my stomach... I can't lay on my back without my babies crushing my own organs... I hate sleeping on my side..." Violet pouted as she grabbed the body pillow that Clementine had gotten for her and stuck it between her knees and under her belly.

Clementine walked into the room, She either didn't hear Violet's complaints or she ignored them. "Luke's down, time for your nightly belly rub!" Clementine went into the bathroom, emerging with a jar of cocoa butter.

Violet rolled over, groaning laboriously as she turned to face the middle of the bed, taking the large pillow with her. Clementine hopped on the bed next to her wife, sitting with her legs crisscrossed next to Violet's belly. She softly eased Violet's tank top up, kissing the exposed belly before opening up the jar and scooping a dollop onto her fingers. Clementine grinned brightly as she rubbed the butter over the entirety of Violet's stomach.

"You're _reeeeaally _enjoying this aren't you...?" Violet rolled her eyes at her gleeful wife.

"Nooooo... I hate seeing you miserable Vi." Clementine said, very unconvincingly with a smile on her face. She couldn't help it though, not only could she feel the babies moving around inside her wife but she could now see it too. Watching as Violet's stomach contorted into awkward shapes as the babies continued to shift their positions.

Violet inhaled sharply, a hissing sound emitted from her clenched teeth. "What is it?" Clementine's ears perked up at Violet's sound, concern clear in her voice.

"I'm alright..." Violet exhaled, looking relieved as the pained expression left her face. "Just an odd stomach cramp."

"Stomach cramp? Where did it hurt?" Clementine asked, Violet pointed to her lower abdomen.

"I don't think that's a stomach cramp Vi, I think that's a contraction." Clementine patted Violet on the hand as the blonde's eyes widened.

"I'm not ready... I can't do this... I'm huge and miserable but I'm only 35 weeks and 6 days... The babies aren't supposed to come until I'm 40 weeks..." Violet spewed out.

"Vi, it's okay." Clementine kissed Violet on the forehead and laid down beside her. "It's normal to go into labor early when you're pregnant with twins, I read all about it."

"I mean... we don't really know what this is... I might really just have a stomach ache..." Violet muttered, looking frightened. Clementine grabbed Violet's hands, intertwining their fingers and kissing the back of both her hands.

"Just tell me if you feel it again and I'll time it this time." Clementine said in a soft, soothing voice. "We don't need to do anything until they get to be five minutes apart, alright?" Clementine said and Violet nodded with a frown. "I'm just going to check our hospital bags and make sure everything's ready to go. Maybe shoot a text to Lee and Carley so that they can be ready to come watch Luke when it's time, okay?"

Clementine started to get up from the bed but Violet held onto her hands, unwilling to let go. "Don't leave me alone Clem."

"I'll be right back Vi, it's going to be okay. I'll just be in the other room, I promise." Clementine kissed Violet on the lips quickly, standing up and pulling her hands away from Violet, tugging firmly in order to get them free.

Clementine texted Carley to have her and Lee get ready to come over before checking through their overnight bags for the essentials. She had packed them with bathroom sundries, pajamas, under clothing, and an extra pair of clothes for each of them, even though she assumed Violet would go home in her pajamas. Clementine grabbed some snacks from the kitchen, a phone charger, and the tablet, sticking them all in the bag as well.

"Cllllleeeeeeemmmm!" Violet yelled and Clementine came running, falling onto the bed at Violet's side, staring at her watch.

"Tell me when it stops." Clementine said somewhat breathless as Violet looked like she was in mild discomfort.

"...Okay...okay, it stopped." Violet rested her hand over her stomach.

"Alright, only thirty seconds... now I'm timing how far apart the contractions are. Tell me when you feel the pain again." Clementine stared into Violet's worried eyes and began stroking her hair, "Try not to worry, and get some rest. Tomorrow could end up being a very long day..." Violet nodded but the fear remained in her eyes, Clementine leaned forward and kissed Violet soft on the lips, lingering for a few seconds. When lips separated, foreheads connected as Clementine continued to gently stroke the blonde's hair. "Just think. Soon, we'll be able to meet our sweet baby girls Vi..."

Violet grinned at the thought, "I hope they have your brown curly hair." Violet reached out, tugging a strand and letting go. Watching as it recoiled back to it's original shape. She closed her eyes, a content look overtaking her features.

"They'll be beautiful no matter what." Clementine assured, watching as Violet's breathing evened out, succumbing to sleep.

Violet's eyes opened at the sharp pain in her abdomen 20 minutes later. Clementine, who was reading a book on the bed beside her, noticed Violet's eyes open, "Another one?" she glanced at her watch, she hated seeing her wife in pain, wishing she could have done this herself, not put the burden on Violet to bare.

"Yes. It's not bad, just uncomfortable." Violet said, "Okay, it's over."

"Twenty five seconds that time. They're pretty sporadic still, if we go in this early they'll send us home. The best thing we can do is try and get some rest. It'll be time for the twins to come soon enough."

Violet shook her head in frustration, "We went to the hospital when you first started having contractions, why can't we just go now?"

Clementine sighed, "My water broke, they let you stay if your water breaks because it increases your risk of getting an infection. Otherwise they send you home. I promise Vi, I'll watch over you, we'll go in as soon as your contractions get five minutes apart." Clementine smiled softly as her wife nodded and closed her eyes again, not noticing as Clementine started her timer once more, her eyes reading and rereading the same page of her book over and over as she kept glancing over to Violet to make sure she was fine, losing her place each time.

After hours of being woken up every 20-30 minutes from contractions, Violet reluctantly sat up in bed. The blonde glanced over at Clementine, who was sleeping in her propped up position, head lulled to the side, still holding her book open on her stomach. A pencil was clutched in her opposite hand with a small notepad underneath it on the bed. Violet leaned over to read the scribbled numbers on the paper, she was keeping track how long Violet's contractions lasted and how much time was between them.

Violet smiled at her diligent wife. Carefully she set the book on the night stand and took the pencil and paper from her hand. She pulled the blanket up over her wife, allowing her to rest. It would be a busy day for her as well, if these girls ever decided they were ready to be born that is. In the mean time she figured she might as well watch a movie seeing as how she wasn't getting any sleep anyway.

Violet continued to keep track of the duration of her own contractions until they were about ten minutes apart. At that point she gently roused Clementine from sleep. The brunette looked confused for only a second before she swore, "Vi, I'm so sorry! Are you okay? I just couldn't keep my eyes open." Clementine's eyes were panicked, feeling guilty for abandoning her wife in her time of need.

"I'm fine Clem, really. My contractions are getting closer, faster now though, I think we need to get Lee over here to stay with Luke." Violet reassured, kissing her wife on the lips to solidify that she was fine.

"Alright." Clementine grabbed her phone and called Lee.

She received a groggy, "Hello? Are the babies coming?"

"It's getting close, can you come over now? Carley can meet us at the hospital in an hour or so, it'll take us some time to get checked in."

"Of course, I'll be right over sweet pea." Lee said.

"Thank you Lee, see you soon." Clementine hung up her phone, got out of the bed and grabbed their overnight bags, "I'll put these in the car."

Violet's contractions reached five minutes apart pretty quickly after that. Clementine helped Violet to the car, so that they could leave the second Lee arrived.

Minutes later he pulled into the driveway. Clementine kissed him goodbye as he promised to take good care of Luke and the two women hurried to the hospital. Violet was so caught up in her discomfort that she couldn't even reprimand Clementine for speeding.

They reached the hospital in record time. Clementine dropped Violet off at the door and found a parking space relatively easily because it was 4am. She grabbed the overnight bags and ran to join her wife at the front of the maternity ward where they were checked in and admitted.

"Let's see where we're at..." The doctor said, sitting on a stool at the foot of the bed in order to perform a pelvic exam. "Hmmm..." He said, a note of concern in his tone.

Clementine's heart thudded in her chest, trying to stay calm for Violet she took a deep steadying breath before she spoke up. "How does everything look?"

"Mrs. Everett looks perfect, 100% effaced and five centimeters dilated. It seems like we may have a baby in breech position though. I'm going to get an ultrasound machine so we can check before we start making decisions." The doctor said before leaving the room.

"Decisions? What decisions?" Violet swallowed hard, not even having time to process what was going on before the anesthesiologist came in. Clementine clung to Violet's hand, trying to whisper assurances but had to give her attention to the woman that entered the room.

The anesthesiologist confirmed Violet's birthday to make sure they had the correct patient before moving on to their task, "Mrs. Everett, we're here to give you your epidural." She said as another person walked into the room and began to set up all her equipment. "First we will numb the area and insert a needle that will help us place a small catheter just outside of your spinal canal and it will remain there, medicine being continuously fed through it. You won't be able to feel anything from your stomach to your knees, sounds good right?"

Violet's eyes widened in terror. "In my spine? I don't know..."

"You told me you wanted the epidural Vi, that you didn't want to go through the pain that I had to go through." Clementine sat on the side of the hospital bed that Violet was facing, IV already hooked to her arm. "But it's completely up to you."

"I didn't know they were going to shove a tube in my spine!" Violet grumbled just as another contraction came, it was sharp and Violet gritted her teeth. Clementine rubbed her hand, kissing it, feeling helpless until Violet unclenched her teeth a minute later. "Give me the epidural." She looked seriously at the anesthesiologist.

"We'll do it after the next contraction, my intern will be performing the procedure. Here, sign this." She held a paper out for Violet to sign and continued to ready the materials. After Violet's next contraction she was handed a pillow. "Sit on the edge of the bed, lean forward, hug this and my intern fix you right up." Violet could feel the back of her hospital gown being opened as she scooted to the edge of the hospital bed. Her stocking feet dangled over the edge. She hugged the pillow tight, "I'm just cleaning the area now..." The intern narrated his actions. "Now hold still..." The intern moved the needle towards her back.

"Ow!" Violet winced as an electric shock of pain shot from her back down her left leg, despite the pain she tried to remain as still as possible.

"Um, did that hurt?" the intern asked, sounding like that wasn't supposed to happen.

"Yes." Violet's eyes widened in fear. Some intern was behind her, jabbing needles in her spine, what if he paralyzed her?

"Where?" he asked, concerned.

"Down my left leg." Violet explained, still hugging her pillow. The intern and anesthesiologist spoke quietly to one another for a moment.

Clementine, who had been sitting in front of Violet, holding her hands supportively, stood as the intern raised the needle towards Violet's back again.

"No, I'm sorry... I know he needs to learn but he had his chance, he can practice on someone else. He's not stabbing my wife again. We have about two minutes before her next contraction, we need to get this done." Clementine looked pointedly at the anesthesiologist, who immediately stepped forward, taking the needle from the intern.

"Going in." The anesthesiologist said, inserting the needle and tube without anymore mishap, securing it with tape to Violet's back and running medicine through it. Clementine helped Violet lay down on her side when they finished.

"She should feel the medicine in about ten minutes." the anesthesiologist said, giving Clementine instructions on rotating sides periodically before leaving.

"Thank you Clem... that really scared me." Violet tentatively wiggled her left toes, making sure there was no damage.

"Anything for my Vi." Clementine whispered, settling back down into her chair and kissing Violet's forehead.

Another couple contractions came before the medicine took effect. Clementine tried to distract Violet with conversation. She leaned on the bed in front of Violet, "What color eyes do you think our babies will have Vi?" Clementine asked, trying to take Violet's mind off of what was happening.

"Um..." Violet tried to focus on Clementine instead of the pain, "Honey gold... just like yours."

"Both of them?" Clementine asked with a smile.

"Both of them." Violet grinned as she stared into her wife's eyes. Her contraction ended and she leaned forward, kissing her wife just as the doctor walked in pushing an ultrasound machine into the room.

"Let's see what we have here, if you could pull your gown up Mrs. Everett." The doctor said, Clementine jumped from her chair, positioning Violet's blankets over her private areas before pulling the gown over her stomach. Violet shot her a grateful smile. The doctor squirted the gel on her belly but Violet, now numb, couldn't tell if it was cold or not. "Just as I suspected, baby A is breech, coming out bottom first instead of head first. The only real option we have is performing a Cesarean section. I'll give you two a minute to acclimate to the idea and have the OR prepped. The sooner we can get started the better." The doctor said, stepping out of the room, closing the door behind her to give the two some privacy.

"A C-section..." Violet took a deep breath, trying to wrap her head around the idea. "That would mean I wouldn't have to push them out... so... that's good...no chance of ripping down there, but they would be cutting my stomach open."

"There's no wrong way to have a baby Vi, as long as long you and the babies are healthy, that's all I want. I trust your doctor, if she says this is best, then I believe her." Clementine held Violet's hand between both of her own, rubbing it gently.

"Okay, and we'll be able to meet them sooner, let's do this..." Violet looked resolved as the doctor came back in with a team of nurses that unhooked all the equipment and wheeled Violet down to the operating room. Clementine followed nervously behind, having never experienced this before, reassured slightly by the large team of skilled professionals that would be on hand and alert during the entire thing.

When they reached the OR, Violet was wheeled in, but they held Clementine back.

"Clem!" Violet called out when she noticed Clementine hadn't followed her into the room.

"I-I need to be with my wife." Clementine insisted, ready to throw down in the OR in order to be at her side if necessary.

"Ma'am, we just need you to wash your hands and arms and put on a gown, mask and hat to keep the room as sterile as possible." A nurse said in a calming voice, pointing at the large sink nearby.

"Yes, sorry, thank you." Clementine scrubbed her hands and arms thoroughly before a nurse came to help her put on all the clothing articles. Once dressed Clementine was led into the room where Violet was being prepped for surgery. Her stomach was exposed and being cleaned. A big paper wall held up by metal poles divided Violet in half so that she couldn't see the doctor performing surgery on her. Clementine was led to the head of the bed so that she could see Violet's face. Clementine took Violet's hand, kissing it softly, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "I love you so much Vi. You've done so great, I know being pregnant with twins as been such a pain but you've handled it all so well... I love you."

"I love you too Clem..." Violet smiled, ready to meet her babies. The doctor announced that they were beginning their procedure.

"How do you feel?" Clementine asked, squeezing Violet's hand.

"Great, no pain at all." Violet said, surprised at how well the drugs were working.

Clementine peaked curiously around the curtain, catching a glimpse of bloodied hands and utensils before leaning back to face Violet. "Good."

"Don't look!" Violet slapped Clementine's shoulder lightly, making the brunette chuckle.

"I want to see your insides, what's wrong with that?" Clementine laughed softly at the disgusted look on Violet's face.

"That's gross Clem..." Violet rolled her eyes as the sound of crying brought them out of their conversation. Tears immediately welled up in both women's eyes as a baby was held up quickly over the divider for them to glimpse a flash of caramel skin.

"Baby A" the doctor said as a nurse grabbed her and took her to the side of the room to clean up. Clementine and Violet stared in awe as their baby was cleaned and weighed. Trying to glance around the group of nurses crowded around.

"Baby B." the doctor held up the second baby, pulling their attention back to the divider. A tear ran down Clementine's face as she looked at her daughter, barely seeing a tuft of her dark hair before they took her to join her sister at the edge of the room.

"You did it Violet... you did so good. They're beautiful, thank you." Clementine peppered Violet's face with kisses as tears continued to leak from her eyes. Filled with joy as they smiled at one another.

"Don't thank me, I wanted this too... more little Clementine's in the world to love and cherish." Violet said, fighting back tears herself as she watched the nurses hovering over their babies. "Go check on them Clem." Violet nudged her wife, that's all the encouragement it took for Clementine to cross the room as quickly as she could, a giddiness to her step as she went to meet her baby girls in person.

Just as she got within viewing distance of the twins a nurse stepped in front, blocking her approach. "Can we hold them?" Clementine asked, voice unsteady, looking confused at the woman standing in front of her.

"No, we're moving them to the NICU immediately." The nurse said sternly, giving no more explanation as the babies were placed in mobile bassinets and began to be wheeled away.

"I- but- What's going on, are they okay?" Clementine stuttered, following them to the door.

"You may come with us and we can explain when we get there, but the babies need to be moved, now." The nurse spoke with a sense of urgency that sent Clementine's heart into a ravenous beat inside her chest.

"Yes... I-... Violet?" Clementine looked from the babies who were now being pushed into the hall to her wife that was currently being sewn up on the operating table. "Violet?" Clementine repeated, fear creeping into her voice as she spoke. Scared for her wife, scared for her twins. Feeling disoriented as bodies rushed around the room and out the hall.

"Go!" Violet yelled, not fully understanding the situation but feeling the anguish in her wife's voice. Clementine gave a shaky nod, Violet's voice grounding her in reality as she ran into the hall to follow their babies. Praying that they were okay, tears fixed in her eyes, blurring her vision as she struggled to comprehend the sudden turn of events.


	20. Broken Heart

Violet was in her bed, being rolled to a recovery room where nurses checked her vitals and removed her epidural. She laid on her bed, head swimming, hardly feeling the pain as nurses pressed on her tender stomach to 'help her uterus shrink back down to size' or so they said. All she could think about, all she could focus on was her girls. Why had they rushed them away? Was something wrong? Why wouldn't anyone give her any information?

"Alright now Mrs. Everett, if you could try and wiggle your toes." A nurse asked while also check the IV fluid. Violet did as she was asked. "Now wiggle your left toes." Violet thought she had wiggled her left toes, she looked down, focusing hard on her foot, trying with all her might to move her toes, nothing. "Hmmm..." the nurse said before attempting to walk away.

"Wait!" Violet reached out for her. "They took my babies away, my wife went with them but I haven't heard anything, are they alright? Why did they take them?"

"I'm sorry Ma'am, I have no information on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, it's a different department. I'm only charged with taking care of Moms. I'll try and call down and get them to send someone up to your room to talk to you." The nurse said, sounding regretful as she spoke, "But we can't send you to your room until you can move your legs, so, focus on that for now. I'll be right back."

The nurse walked out of Violet's curtained off section of the recovery room, leaving her alone and frightened, she could now move her entire right foot, but her left toes refused to even twitch. That on top of the uncertainty of her babies welfare gave her a sense of unease in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't seem to shake.

Clementine leaned against the wall of the NICU where a cloth curtain separated her from her babies. An older nurse was talking to her, she tried hard to focus on the words coming out of the nurses mouth while the screams of her daughters kept stealing her attention. She wanted to go to them, hold them close and rock them, give them comfort but the nurses hand on her shoulder reminded her that she wasn't allowed.

"Do you understand everything I said Mrs. Everett?" the nurse spoke softly, kindly, as she looked into Clementine's eyes, seeing a helpless look within that she had seen so many times before.

"Um... yes..." Clementine nodded slowly, "Since the babies were born early their lungs are under developed..." Clementine spoke in a robotic manner, repeating the snippets she had heard, revealing no emotion through her voice, "So they'll need to be on oxygen for a while and um... one of my girls... the doctor thinks she has..." Clementine broke her cold exterior, tears streaming down her face as a sob escaped her throat. The nurse reached forward, wrapping Clementine in a hug, patting her back soothingly. Clementine was not the first Mom she had had to comfort.

When Clementine calmed down a bit, she took a shuddering breath and continued, "One of my baby girls has a... a heart murmur. The doctor wants to do an ultrasound to see if she has a hole in her heart..."

"That's right. Let's just take it to that point okay, try not to get too far ahead of ourselves." The nurse slowly pulled away. "I'll go see if everything is ready and we can go in and meet your girls." She rubbed her hand on Clementine's upper arm and disappeared behind the curtain for only a few seconds before popping her head out. "Come on in."

Clementine slipped behind the curtain, so eager to see her babies that she was unprepared for the sight of them. Her breath caught in her throat. Both babies were naked except for a diaper and knit hat, their tiny arms sprawled out as they laid on a heating bed with clear plastic walls on all sides of them. Two monitors with attached wires on their chests and two on their belly's taking up almost the entirety of their torsos they were so tiny. Another monitor was taped to their toe. On their faces they had the smallest tubes going into their noses feeding them oxygen and an even tinier tube coming out of their mouths.

Clementine's heart broke as she looked upon them, stepping forward hesitantly now, she leaned forward and looked past the tubes and wires and admired their dark brown hair poking out from beneath their caps. Slready showing a slight curl on both of them. Clementine reached forward, faltering, "Can I touch them?" she asked in a whisper, not sure why she was whispering but the aura of the room seemed to demand it. A nurse nodded encouragingly and Clementine's hand continued it's trek until it made contact with the soft delicate skin of her baby's foot.

That was all it took for the tears to fall once again.

Violet lifted and lowered both legs on the bed, continuing to tighten and relax her toes on both feet, relieved to have feeling back in them again. So gleeful that she hadn't suffered permanent damage from the idiot intern that she hardly paid attention to her surroundings as she was pushed on her bed up an elevator and through several hallways until she reached the room she would be staying in for the remainder of her stay.

"Violet!" Marissa shouted, worry apparent in her voice.

"Mom!" Violet looked away from her toes to see her mom, Carley, Sophie and Louis standing in the room that she was being moved into.

"How are you? How's the babies? Where's Clem?" Carley rattled off her questions. Louis and Sophie looked on with concern.

"I'm okay. I'm sorry we didn't have time to call anyone, a baby was breech and they rushed me in for a C-section. My numbness is wearing off so I'm hurting a little but I'm fine." Violet leaned back heavily into her pillow as she thought about her babies. "Clem... Clem is with the twins... I hope. I don't even know if she was able to catch up to them. They were rushed to the NICU. I don't know what's going on. They haven't told me anything..." Violet began to cry, warm salty tears ran unbidden down her cheeks as she thought of all the possibilities that could be going on all at once. Were they even alive? She winced, holding her stitches tenderly as the convulsions wracking her body sent sharp pains through her stomach. The pregnancy, the pain, it all would have been worth it if only she knew her babies were okay.

"I'm going to find a nurse and get some information. I won't stop until I know what's going on Violet." Carley said, determination in her eyes.

"And I'll get someone in here to give you some pain medicine, my poor sweetheart." Marissa leaned down, kissing Violet on the forehead before both women hustled from the room with their own personal missions.

Sophie stepped up to Violet, holding her hand, managing a small smile at her friend, "In case Carley doesn't get any information, I'll go straight to the source. I'll go down to the NICU and find Clementine. I can call you from there. Do you have your cell?"

"It's in a bag, somewhere..." Violet looked around frantically, not sure who, if anyone had moved their overnight bags from the delivery room up to their new room.

"Don't worry, we can find it later." Sophie patted Violets arm gently, trying not to put anymore unnecessary stress on the blonde. "I'll call Louis, alright?"

"I'll be waiting!" Louis chirped, holding up his phone, showing that he would be ready for her call when she made it. Sophie nodded, pecking Louis on the cheek before hurrying out of the room.

"It wasn't a competition you know." Louis said as he pulled a chair up to the side of Violet's bed.

"What?" Violet raised an eyebrow.

"I know how competitive you and the Clemster can be, but having the worst birth story is not a competition." Louis attempted a grin, hoping it was convincing, internally cheering when he got the smallest of eyerolls. "So... uh... this really sucks huh? Do you want to talk about it?"

Violet shook her head as she looked up at the ceiling, "Not really, not until there's something to talk about. This not knowing anything is killing me..."

Louis reached out and placed his hand on top of Violet's, "Then how about a distraction." Violet nodded, still looking up, tracing the ceiling tiles with her eyes. "I haven't told anyone yet, so you have to swear to keep this to yourself."

"I swear." Violet finally met his eyes, feeling the nervous energy in Louis's voice.

"I mean it, you can't even tell Clem." Louis insisted.

"Nope." Violet shook her head, looking back up at the ceiling, rejecting Louis's big secret. "I tell Clem everything, there are no secrets between us. You tell me, it's the same as telling her."

"Fine, you can tell Clem." Louis made the grumpiest face he could muster as Violet looked back at him, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips. "_Buuuuut_, you have to tell Clem to swear not to tell anyone, swear?"

"I swear." Violet agreed. Louis stuck his tongue out in concentration as he riffled through an interior pocket of his long jacket.

"Aha!" he announced as he pulled out a small velvet box, opening the lid with a dramatic flourish, revealing a not so small diamond ring.

"It's about time." Violet said, trying to sound frustrated but she couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face.

"I know, I know! It's just, after my parents divorce I didn't know if I ever wanted to get married." Louis shrugged, putting the ring safely back inside his jacket, "Part of me kind of hoped Sophie would give me an ultimatum so that I would have an excuse to propose but she's too good for that. She's too good for me... She's always so patient with me and my silliness, entertained by it even. She's never once pressured me to do this, to ask her to marry me and that makes me want to marry her all the more. I love her Violet. She's 'the one'." Louis let out a long sigh and met Violet's eyes. "Soooooo... do you think she'll say yes?"

"Of course she will you dummy."

Sophie found Clementine in the hall of the NICU, sitting against a section of wall between two curtains, knees pulled up to her chest, crying into them.

"Clem...?" Sophie said tentatively but Clementine didn't react, she just remained on the floor where her shoulders shook with sobs, caught up in her own world. Sophie glanced around the hallway at the NICU nurses that passed by, looking concerned but not surprised. The red head assumed this was likely a regular occurrence in this section of the hospital.

Sophie knelt in front of Clementine, not even caring that they were taking up hallway space. The nurses didn't seem to mind either, they simply passed behind, making no sign of being disturbed. "Clem?" She tried again. This time Clementine looked up from her knees, her blood shot eyes looked lost and Sophie's heart broke before she even knew what was the matter. "What's going on? Can you tell me?"

Clementine nodded, attempting to speak between her great hiccuping sobs that racked her entire body but Sophie shook her head, unable to understand.

"I'm sorry Clem, I can't understand you, is something wrong with the babies?" Sophie tried again but Clementine's mumbling was still incoherent. "It's okay Clem, come here." Sophie gave up on conversation and held her arms out. Clementine didn't waste a second, falling forward onto her own knees, crashing into the taller girl's arms, allowing herself to be held as she cried. Sophie just held onto her and let her cry, waiting for her sobs to turn to sniffles. Sophie patted her back softly.

Clementine finally pulled back, wiping her nose and eyes on her sleeve as she continued to sniff, "Th-thank y-y-you S-Soph." She said as she took in a shaky breath.

"Don't thank me Clem, I know when my baby is born, you'll be there for me just the same." Sophie smiled at the brunette.

A confused look overtook Clementine's face, "Y-y-you're...?"

Sophie's eyes widened in horror, she swore several times before slowly nodding, looking Clementine right in the eye, "Clem, I- you can't tell. Louisdoesn'tevenknowyet. Please."

"R-really?" Clementine stuttered out, swiping at her splotchy face with the back of her hand. Sophie gave another small nod. "I won't t-tell anyone. P-promise." Clementine got out, managing a small but sincere smile. "I'm so h-happy for you two." She said, pulling Sophie into a weak hug.

"Thanks Clem," Sophie sighed, feeling silly for bringing the conversation onto herself when her friend was in so much pain, "Can you tell me what's going on now?"

Clementine leaned back against the wall and took a deep calming breath. "They took the girls to get an ultrasound on their h-hearts, one of them has a heart murmur, they think she may have a..." Sophie could tell she was fighting off a fresh wave of tears, "a h-hole in her h-heart but they are checking both girls to be safe."

"What will they do if she does have a hole?" Sophie asked, trying to keep her voice steady for Clementine's sake.

"Surgery." Clementine choked back a sob, closing her eyes to steady her breath, "The doctor seemed confident that it could be fixed and... and... that she would grow up to live a normal life."

"Why are they keeping both babies here? Do they want them to stay together?" Sophie continued her questioning now that Clementine was coherent.

"They're both on oxygen, since they're premature their lungs are under developed but that's normal..." Clementine said, suddenly realization crossed her face and she stood. "I need to check on Violet." Clementine took a couple steps towards the NICU exit before faltering. She walked back to the babies room. "I-I need to check on Violet b-but I can't leave... I need to be here when they get back... I-" Fresh tears leaked out of her eyes as she looked between the room and the exit, torn on what to do.

Sophie stood up and placed her hands on Clementine's shoulder, forcing her to look at her, "Violet is okay, a bit sore from the surgery, but she's fine. She can move her legs again and really she's just worried about the babies. I'm going to call her okay and give her an update." Clementine nodded as she slunk against the wall, back onto the NICU floor.

Louis's phone started vibrating, Violet grabbed it out of his hand as soon as she saw Sophie's picture on the screen. "What's going on?" She demanded a little harsher than necessary. She had gotten out of surgery hours ago and no one in the entire forsaken hospital seemed to be able to give her information on her babies. She was happier than ever that she had told Clementine to go after them but she still wanted to know what was happening.

Violet got quiet as Sophie filled her in on everything that Clementine had told her.

"Is Clem with you? I want to talk to her." Violet said, heartache clear in her voice.

The line was silent for a few seconds before, "Violet, how are you? Are you alright? I'm so sorry I'm not with you..." Clementine said, filled with guilt for leaving her wife alone right after having their babies.

"I'm fine. You're exactly where you need to be Clem. How are you?" Violet smiled as she heard Clementine chuckle softly on the other end of the line.

"I didn't just have a baby... Who cares how I am?"

"I do." Violet was serious.

"I'll feel better when our team is complete again." Clementine sniffled into the phone.

"Me too Clem, I love you." Violet ached to be with her wife, to see her baby girls.

"I love you too. I'll come to your room as soon as I talk to the doctor about the results." Clementine said.

"Louis is here with me, and Carley and my mom, I'm okay, take care of our girls. I'll see you soon."

"Yeah, see you soon." Clementine sighed, feeling like soon wasn't soon enough.

Violet hung up the phone and handed it back to Louis. Marissa came back into the room finally with a nurse to give Violet medication. She took it gratefully just as Carley burst in.

"I finally found someone to give me information on the twins." Carley said, looking out of breath and frightened.

"We just talked to Sophie and Clem, we know the situation..." Louis answered for Violet, who looked lost in thought.

"I'm so sorry dear," Carley gently hugged Violet before Marissa could drag her away and get the information that she had missed out on hearing. The two grandmas were busy conversing as Violet threw the blankets off her legs and slowly rotated them until she was sitting on the edge of the bed, feet resting on the floor, a grimace on her face at the effort.

"Vi, wait, what are you doing?!" Louis looked concerned.

"I'm going to see my girls and Clementine." Violet was determined as she grabbed onto the bed rail and pulled herself up, legs shaking under the weight. Carley and Marissa looked over, rushing to her side as they saw the blonde shuffling her way over to the door.

"Get back in bed." Carley insisted, but Violet shook her head now, wincing as she slowly made her way to the door.

"Let me get you a wheel chair." Marissa said, running out into the hall ahead of her daughter. Violet didn't wait, she clutched her stomach and kept moving forward. The pain was unbearable, it felt like someone had ripped her in half and then just stuck her two halves back on top of each other. She had no idea how many torso muscles it involved just to walk and every one of them now felt like they were on fire. Louis pulled the IV bag down before Violet could rip it out of her hand and followed worriedly, but he wasn't about to stand in her way when she was so resolute in her goal.

Violet was out of the room and halfway down the corridor when Marissa caught up to them. "All the wheel chairs are in use, if you can wait 15 minutes they'll have one you can-"

"No." Violet insisted, ignoring the blinding pain in her abdomen as she jammed the down button on the elevator. As she impatiently waited for the elevator she glanced at the hospital map by the door and made sure of the correct floor for the NICU.

The elevator dinged it's arrival. Violet restlessly waited for the doors to open, walking towards the opening as soon as the space was big enough, not noticing that someone was trying to exit.

"Excus- Violet!" Clementine cried, face still wet with tears. She wrapped her arms around her wife a littler over zealously, pulling back at the hiss of pain Violet emitted. "I'm so sorry!" Clementine looked horrified at her mistake but continued with her news, "They said we can hold our girls, I ran as fast as I could. Only two people can go back at a time though." Clementine wanted to throw her arms around her wife again, squeeze her tight, but she could tell by her pained expression that that would be a bad idea.

"Let's go." Violet shuffled onto the elevator, picking up her feet as little as possible as she walked. Louis, Marissa and Carley followed her on but stayed quiet.

"You shouldn't be walking yet, you just had surgery." Clementine chastised, hitting the button for the correct floor, taping her foot anxiously as the elevator closed and went down.

Violet shrugged, "They were out of wheel chairs and I wanted to see my family." Clementine sighed as she took Violet's arm and gently wrapped it around her shoulders. As soon as the doors opened Clementine slipped her arm underneath Violet's knees and carried her to the front desk of the NICU.

Violet rolled her eyes at her wife, seeing the strain on her face as she carried Violet, who still had her extra pregnancy weight. Clementine made it to the desk though, too stubborn to give up, she carefully set Violet on her feet. The two girls showed their wrist bands that identified them as the parents of the twins. They walked to the sink and scrubbed at their hands with soap and water for the designated time, making sure they were clean while Louis, Marissa and Carley waited in the NICU waiting room.

"Do you still have to wear the gown?" Violet asked, looking at Clementine's attire as they washed all the way up to their elbows. Wondering if she too needed to wear one in order to meet the babies.

"Oh... I forgot I was wearing it..." Clementine pulled off the paper gown and matching hat and threw them in the trash. She took the mask that had long been dangling uselessly from her neck and threw it away too before leading Violet back to the twins room. Clementine was careful not to go too fast for her wife, offering her arm for support as they walked.

Clementine pulled the curtain open, letting Violet step in first. She gasped, breathless as she looked at her girls clearly for the first time. "They're perfect Clem. I-I can hold them?" Clementine nodded and waved for their nurse to come help. She grinned at her wife as she looked in awe at the new additions to their family.

Clementine took Violet by her elbow and carefully led her to the cushioned chair in the corner. Violet sat down gratefully as Clementine placed a pillow in her lap to make holding them more comfortable.

"Have you held them yet Clem?" Violet asked, Clementine merely shook her head no as she re-positioned the pillow for maximum comfort. "I got to hold Luke first, you should get to hold the twins." Clementine shook her head again as the nurse came in.

"Okay Mom, let me just get these cords situated..." The nurse said, situating a bassinet on each side of Violet. "This is baby A." The nurse lifted her out and placed her in Violet's right arm. Violet just stared at her, she had never held such a tiny baby before.

"How much does she weigh?" Violet asked, looking at the bundle that took up only half her arm.

"Baby A was 5lbs and 3oz." The nurse answered as she lifted baby B and placed her in Violet's left arm. "And baby B weighed 5lbs 12oz."

"W-wait, both at the same time?" Violet looked worried, terrified she was going to drop one, if not both, even though they slept peacefully in her arms, each bundled in a soft blanket now. The nurse chuckled as she left, telling them that they could have a moment alone and to call her if they needed anything.

"Who has the hole?" Violet asked quietly.

Clementine frowned as she pointed at baby A. "We can talk about that later... how about we give them names so we can stop referring to them as letters." Clementine couldn't hold her frown for long though, the sight of Violet holding both of their girls melted her heart. She pulled out her phone that Sophie had given her earlier and snapped a picture as Violet was looking down at them smiling.

"I like the names we already agreed on, now we just need to decide who's who..." Violet said as Clementine hovered nearby, caressing the soft skin of her babies' cheeks.

" I think baby A should be Kaylee and baby B should be Milli... what do you think?" Clementine asked, looking up at Violet who was examining each baby's face earnestly. Though the twins weren't identical, they were still hard to tell apart, both of them swaddled up to their necks in a blanket, heads covered in a knit hat, only their tiny smooshed up baby faces were visible.

"I think that's perfect." Violet agreed, leaning down and kissing each one on the head. "Welcome to the world Milli Alexandra Everett and Kaylee Marlowe Everett. We love you both."


	21. Hole in Your Heart, a Hole in Mine

Clementine stayed by the empty bedside for what seemed like hours. Hoping and promising to herself that everything would be alright. That now that Violet was okay, and Milli was doing strong now, that the same would go for Kaylee.

'Everetts were strong to begin with', she told herself. Watching the linings of the hospital walls as she still sat there. Relishing in some of the silence she had while they waited. Smiling to herself as she remembered the sight of Violet holding their two little girls. Wanting nothing more than to have that without worry, without the fear of the surgery one of their precious kids would have to go through. Almost unbearably so as it was all beginning to strain on the brunette.

But she'd keep her promise to stay there, just as she said. Through all of it, at least. Even if she wanted to leave right now, to start booking it out of the hospital and get a breath of fresh air rather than the containment she practically felt inside now. She couldn't, and she definitely wouldn't either.

Not for the world.

"Hey, you okay Clem?" A voice came from behind her, nearly causing her to jump she was so out of it and in her mind. Turning as she saw Violet, a faint smile etching across both their faces.

"Yeah...yeah. I'm just worried is all." She responded, trying to hold back more tears that etched their way to her eyes. She wasn't the one who had surgery just before and was crying more than her. She felt like she had to be strong...but just couldn't.

"Me too, but I saw how strong she was, even in my arms. Our little girl in there right now is gonna kick our as- our _butts_ when she gets older."

Clementine let out a small chuckle, letting her wife sit over next to her as they looked out. Not really staring at much before one of the nurses returned with Milli. Watching as both their eyes lit up, but easily able to see the worry in them as well.

"Here you go moms, Milli here just needed an additional check up to see how she's been doing." She smiled, waiting to see who would hold her now.

Clementine watched, glad that they could have at least one of their daughters with them now, not even realizing Violet had told the nurse something as she walked closer to the brunette.

"Wha- oh, Vi you can hold her still if you want." She offered, waiting for a response as she almost felt scared to do so. Almost frowning as Violet shook her said, helping to get some of the cords still situated as Milli was gently placed in her wife's arms. Looking up at them both. Neither of them noticing the nurse was about to leave before Clem spoke up, still keeping her eyes on her little bundle of joy.

"How's um- how is Kaylee doing?" She asked pleadingly, feeling her eyes sting again as the nurse paused. Facing them both.

"I'm not too sure yet, she's still in surgery. I'll let you know whenever I can find out."

Clementine nodded, not exactly content with that answer but she didn't want to exactly start anything. Her tension calming as she held her daughter in her arms and by the hand rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. Watching their child wrapped in the small blanket as she slept.

Her heart was in such a mixture of emotions right now, she didn't even know how she could take it. Much less how Violet would.

"Clem-"

"How are you doing?" She averted the blonde's question, looking to her as if she was begging her not to ask her anything else. Hoping that Violet wouldn't try to push past it, not now at least.

Violet relinquished. Knowing now was definitely not the time to point out Clementine's avoidance of herself and pushing past it all to help her wife. Only sighing now as she watched her turn back to Milli, tilting her head as she watched her.

"I'm fine. Still worried but I'm sure it'll be fine. It's going to be, she's barely had any time in this world and is already fighting every moment of it." She paused, looking back to Clem again as she didn't give her a glance. Almost worried she may have been crying now as they held her.

"Sounds like someone I know honestly. Someone who they kind of look like already. Someone who's beautiful and sitting right beside me with her equally beautiful baby in her arms. Always pushing past her own thoughts to take care of others." She leaned closer, watching Clementine's eyes as they partially glistened, a smile still on her face from her words and Milli peacefully asleep in her arms.

"The girl I love." Violet finished. Watching as the brunette turned to her now, wiping a stray tear with her free hand before pulling her wife in for a quick kiss. Both looking exhausted from all of the events they had today. But neither relinquishing any of it to leave their baby's sides.

"I-" Clem started, only interrupted by a nurse moving into the room. Different than the one before as she walked over to the brunette, speaking softly to them.

"The doctor wants to speak with you outside, I just gotta place your daughter back in here while you go, okay?"

Clementine looked to her, confused for a moment as Violet listened, walking out of the room while the nurse took Milli out of the brunette's arms. "Can't we hold her out there?"

"I'm afraid not. I'm sorry." She answered simply, still not meeting her eyes as she took her daughter from her. Sending Clementine away from the short peace she had with her and back into worry about what this could be about.

She quietly got up, her heart pounding as she left the small room, glancing forwards as the sound drowned out once again. Walking to the separate and private room she'd been instructed to go to, realizing Violet had left without her as she heard something.

Almost like denial, desperation. All coming from Violet as she quickened her pace, making her way into the blank and empty room as they both turned to her. Violet's eyes red and puffy -much more than they were before ad the doctor cleared his throat. Looking to one of Kaylee's surgeons next to him as he repeated what he must have told Violet.

"Clem I-" She choked back a cry, turning to her wife as she listened to every word the doctor told her. Feeling herself go deafened at the words, only hearing a practical ringing around her as this all happened. Her heart pounding even more now as her eyes watered quicker than ever, shaking her head in blind desperation.

"No! Nononono- no! This can't be happening!" She yelled out, not realizing the door behind her was closed as she back up into it, sobs coming from her mouth as the two men gave her looks of pity. Violet in complete silence as she continued listening, hearing the words 'i'm sorry' for what seemed like over and over and over. Watching Clementine slowly sink to the ground as her face was covered in tears now, in full denial of the entire situation before the ringing in her ears stopped. Catching words she never wanted to hear, not believing it at all, wishing she were actually deaf right now.

"She died during surgery."

The world felt like it was collapsing around her as she cried. Not noticing the way the doctors left them alone in the room to grieve. Not listening to Violet's attempts to talk to her as she drowned it all out. Not reacting to her wife wrapping her arms around her as they both cried. Feeling the room practically go dark even with the abundance of lights bearing onto them.

Clem couldn't even think of how her parents would think, how Violet's would. She couldn't think of anything but her daughters- _daughter_, still in the other room. Knowing that the reason why she was taken out of their arms was so they wouldn't hurt her in their revelation.

Still, even so, she felt like her world was crushed. It _was_ crushed. She didn't know what to do or think, except knowing that she didn't want to move, didn't want to do anything as her cries became sobs. Muffled by her face in her arms, not even hearing footsteps practically burst in. Only hearing mumbles of what had to be her friends.

"Vi? What's wrong?"

"Clem- oh my god."

"I-"

"We're so sorry. I'm so sorry oh my god."

Clementine felt herself so far away from the world right now. All of it practically destroyed by these news as she just let everything around her happen. Not even noticing they'd left the hospital, not noticing how they signed so many papers.

Just wanting it all to end. Wanting to get out of there knowing that one of her kids was dead, that she couldn't even go and see Milli right now as her remaining daughter was whisked away to have more testing done. Not seeing the looks of condolences people gave them as they overheard or saw their puffy faces. Clementine's cries throughout the halls as she was led out. None of it even recognizable through the parking lot as she still heard that same ringing. Still heard those words that Kaylee was dead. That she didn't make it.

And she still didn't believe it. Her child wasn't dead, she was a fighter just like her. She was right alongside her twin still in the room. She was- she was gone...

Clementine snapped herself back to reality as she looked down, she was in the car now. Silence among them again as she felt the pamphlet in her hand. Marking many different therapists for them to see and counseling after all they'd gone through.

As if she was going to listen of course. She couldn't take even thinking about it as she turned, hiding her crying face again as not a word came from Violet. The blonde knowing she'd practically cried out all the tears possible, looking over at everything in remorse.

All this time they tried, how they tried to be careful and fought for their kids. Losing one of them now and not able to bring the other home in their arms...

It hurt more than anything. More than anything she went through at the hospital and more than everything she could've gone through.

It was unreal, she felt empty as she turned to Clementine again. Her frown having stayed plastered across her face for what must have been hours. Wishing that at least something could have come from either of their mouths other than a cry or sob. Hoping there was some way she could try and make it better.

But she couldn't come up with anything. She was at a loss far worse than that of words.

They arrived home. Both not making a sound except listening to the doors of the car close. Carrying empty bags as the world around them seemed to go to a lull. So much crossing their minds as they opened their door, almost feeling like a curse to even do it. To even try and think of some other way out of the situation they had.

But they had nothing, no hope and smiles across their faces. Only melted down by their spirits once again as they heard Luke calling from across one of the rooms. Violet moving towards him as soon as she heard it.

"Where baby?" He cried out, reaching his arms towards both of his moms as Violet looked to Clem, who only stared off distantly. Not saying a word while her lip trembled, quickly setting the bag up on their counter as she went into the other room. Leaving Violet alone with Luke for now.

She stared, sniffling a moment before picking him up into her arms best she could, holding him close as her own way of reconciliation. Gently moving back and forth, deciding to tell him about Milli instead.

"Baby will be here soon, it's just gonna- it's just gonna be awhile." She whispered, fighting off the tears that somehow made their way back to her face, slightly glad when Luke didn't ask again. Only hearing Clementine walk back through the hallway as she tried to call out to her. Trying to say _something_ at least.

"Clem- Clementine _please_ say something to me. I'm begging you." Violet pleaded, hoping that she wouldn't somehow blame this on herself. There was nothing either of them could have done, but the way her wife had been acting this entire time told her otherwise.

Instead Clementine went into the twins' room. Well, what would have been the twins' room. Now it was just Milli's as she looked across the two mobiles, the two cribs. Practically two of everything in that room as her heart shattered even more. Knowing all of this was for nothing, they didn't need two of everything anymore.

She furiously wiped her tears away the best she could. failing to do so as she quietly moved down some of the decorations. Pushed the crib away and moved the mobile out of the room. Almost unbearable to even make a glance towards it as she cried. Not caring about the noise of everything crashing to the ground as she continued. Finding anything they had two of for their daughters and moving it out, not listening to Violet calling out to her.

"Clem please! Stop!" She tried yelling out above it, moving Luke to another room as he started to cry in his mother's arms, gripping her shirt tightly.

"I'm just gonna go- I'm gonna check on her, alright? I love you." She whispered, quickly whisking herself away as she heard their door slam. Wincing at it as she knew she had to try and get Clementine to talk to her. Both of their hearts absolutely broken, but she couldn't leave them both to grieve on their own. Not as she heard Clementine's sobs from the other side of the door. The way she must've slinked down it and onto the floor. Unable to hear her cries now as they became unbearable.

"Clementine open the door! Please. I-I need you." She pleaded, keeping her hands on the door handle just for the moment her wife might creak it open Hearing the slightest twist as she quickly moved herself in the room, seeing the brunette still on the floor in a mess of her own tears and the items practically thrown around the room. She knew why she did it, but her explanation herself -the first words she'd said in hours, nearly broke her down as well. Almost incomprehensible due to the hiccups she practically had through her sobs.

"W-we don't have t-twins anymore...s-so we- don't need this stuff." She made out, looking away from Violet in shame as she moved some of the stuff away. Leaning down near her as she hugged her tightly, letting herself cry now as well.

"Clem it's-"

"Kaylee's gone! She's gone and we couldn't do a-anything to h-h-help. Why c-can't anything go right for us?!"

Violet didn't respond, merely shaking her wife's shoulder as Clementine didn't listen. She didn't want to listen as the walls around her seemed to shake, seemed to close in on her as she felt she deserved it. Only making out the echoey words of Violet right beside her.

"Clem! CLEMENTINE! WAKE UP!"

She shot up from her bed, in a heap of cold sweat and tears streaming down her face. Seeing how dark it was around her, her heart pounding as she let out a quiet sob. Putting her hand to her mouth as she felt arms wrapped around her. A warmth next to her side, pushing the hair out of her face.

"Clem" Violet whispered now, holding her trembling wife carefully. "Clementine can you hear me?"

"Y-yeah...I-I-" She managed to try and get out, only to be held tighter as Violet wiped some of the tears from her face.

"It's okay, you had a nightmare." She soothed, not noticing that Clementine's heart was racing again as the brunette quickly turned to her, surprised.

"E-everything's okay? They- our daughters are fine?" She looked to her, wide eyed as she was almost afraid of the answer. Not knowing if whatever she had experienced there was all a dream, or only some of it.

"What? Yeah they're fine. They're okay at the hospital just as we left them. They said they'd call if there were any updates, remember?"

Clementine choked back another sob, hugging Violet as tight as she could, relishing in the comfort of her as she felt her hand rubbing circles in her back. Hiding her face in her shoulder as Violet realized it.

"Milli's okay, Kaylee's alright, they said they'd update us on any conditions or when they were going to take her to surgery. We just wanted to get some rest after that long day. You're okay, Clem.

Clementine didn't say anything, unable to control her relief now as she let out a few more sobs. Not even remembering half of what Violet had said had happened after that nightmare. Only happy now that it was gone, that it didn't happen.

Even if she had to worry all over again, she'd do it just for the chance that everything would work out. That it all would be okay just as Violet promised her, just as they promised both of their daughters when her wife held them.

It all gave Clementine another instance of remembrance from that nightmare. She never actually got to hold Milli at all, nearly getting up right then and there before she was practically pulled back onto the bed.

"Whoa there, easy. It's still night and we still have a couple more hours to get some sleep. And _you_ especially need it."

Clementine looked up at her, a faint smile crossing her face a she nodded. Whispering one more question as she cuddled back near Violet.

"When we go back there and we get the chance to, can I hold them?" She meekly asked, almost fearful and teary-eyed still as she was unable to see the smile that etched its way across Violet's face. Looking at her as she looked much more at peace than she had earlier during her nightmare that woke her up so quickly.

"Of course you can. I promise."

**A/N: Guest written by: agarserv don't blame me for your tears!**


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